HOW TO USE CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS TO 

 ADVANTAGE. 



The form of Nitrogen most active as plant food is 

 the nitrated form, namely, Nitrate of Soda. Sir John 

 Lawes wisely remarks: "When we consider that the 

 application of a few pounds of Nitrogen in Nitrate of 

 Soda to a soil which contains several thousand pounds 

 of Nitrogen in its organic form, is capable of increas- 

 ing the crop from 14 to 40 or even 50 bushels of wheat 

 per acre, I think it must be apparent to all that we 

 have very convincing evidence of the value of 

 Nitrate." The Nitrogen of Nitrate of Soda is im- 

 mediately available as plant food, and it should, 

 therefore, be applied only when plants are ready to 

 use it. By such a ready supply of available plant 

 food, young plants are able to establish such a vigor 

 of growth that they can much better resist disease, 

 and the attacks of insects and parasites. The famous 

 experiments of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted 

 have demonstrated that cereals utilize more than 

 three times as much of the Nitrogen in Nitrate of 

 Soda as of the Nitrogen contained in farmyard 

 manure; in practice, four and one-half tons of farm- 

 yard manure supply only as much available plant 

 food as 100 pounds of Nitrate of Soda. 



Catch-crops are recommended to prevent losses of 

 available plant food after crops are removed. Rape 



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