FOOD FOR PLANTS 17 



The Nitrogen contained in these "complete ferti- 

 lizers" is often in a form that is neither available nor 

 useful to the plants. 



Statistics gathered by the Experiment Stations 

 show that in the United States many millions of dol- 

 lars are spent annually for "complete fertilizers." 



Would you not think a man very unwise who 

 should buy somebody's "Complete Prepared Food," 

 at a high price, when he wanted feed for his horses, 

 instead of going into the market and buying corn, 

 oats and hay, at market prices? 



The "Complete Prepared Food" would probably be 

 composed of corn, oats and hay mixed together, and 

 the price would be, perhaps, twice as much as the 

 corn, oats and hay would cost separately. It is fre- 

 quently more economical to buy the different ferti- 

 lizing materials and mix them at home than to pur- 

 chase "complete" fertilizers as they are often called. 

 Some do not wish to take pains to get good materials 

 and mix them, and prefer to purchase the "complete" 

 fertilizers. If this be done, special attention should 

 be given to ascertaining in what form the Nitrogen 

 exists. Many of the manufacturers do not tell this, 

 but some of the experiment stations analyze all the 

 fertilizers sold in their respective states and publish 

 the results in bulletins, which are sent free to anyone 

 asking for them. These analyses should show in 

 what form the Nitrogen is. The "complete ferti- 

 lizers" that contain the most Nitrogen in the form of 

 Nitrate are the ones to use, and the ones which do 

 not contain Nitrate or which do not give information 

 on this vital point should be avoided. If you have 

 on hand a "complete fertilizer" containing a small 



