204 Fertilizers 



therefore, useful as a guide to the economical supply of the 

 essential elements of growth. These crops must be pro- 

 vided with food that will encourage a slow and continuous 

 rather than a quick growth and development. 



SYSTEMS OF FERTILIZING SUGGESTED 



A careful review of the foregoing facts furnishes abun- 

 dant evidence of the impracticability of attempts to give 

 information concerning the use of fertilizers that will apply 

 equally well under all of the conditions of farming that 

 may occur. Nevertheless, there have been a number of 

 methods or systems of fertilization suggested, each of 

 which possesses one or more points of advantage. 



A system based upon the specific influence of a single element. 



The one which has perhaps received the most attention, 

 doubtless largely because one of the first presented, and in 

 a very attractive manner, is the system advocated by the 

 celebrated French scientist, George Ville. This system, 

 while not to be depended upon absolutely, suggests lines 

 of practice which, under proper restrictions may be of 

 very great service. In brief, this method assumes that 

 plants may be, so far as their fertilization is concerned, 

 divided into three distinct groups. One group is specifi- 

 cally benefited by nitrogenous fertilization, the second by 

 phosphatic, and the third by potassic. That is, in each 

 class or group, one element more than any other rules or 

 dominates the growth of that group, and hence each par- 

 ticular element should be applied in excess to the class of 

 plants for which it is a dominant. In this system it is 

 asserted that nitrogen is the dominant ingredient for wheat, 

 rye, oats, barley, meadow grass and beet crops. Phos- 



