FOOD FOR PLANTS 



The Food of Plants consists of a number of ele- 

 ments, including Nitrate, phosphate, lime and potash. 

 Nearly always two of these are lacking in adequate 

 quantities to produce crops, especially is Nitrate 

 wanting in the vast majority of instances. In this 

 case the normal growth and yield of the crop will be 

 limited only by the quantity of Nitrate it can properly 

 assimilate. There might be an abundant supply of 

 all the other elements, but plants can never use other 

 kinds of food without Nitrate. 



Nitrate Nitrogen is the food that is nearly always 

 deficient. The question that presents itself to the 

 farmer, gardener and fruit grower is, How can I 

 supply my plants with Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash, in the best forms and at the least expense? 

 We will try to throw some light upon this question 

 in the following pages. We will take first, phos- 

 phoric acid. 



There are several sources of phosphoric acid, the 

 principal being bones and rock phosphate. Of these, 

 the rock phosphate is the cheapest source. A pre- 

 vailing impression exists that super-phosphate made 

 from rock phosphate is not as good as that made from 

 bones. It has been shown by many experiments that 

 this idea is entirely without foundation. What the 

 plants want is available phosphoric acid, and it makes 

 little or no difference from what source it is derived. 



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J^mitTY LIBRARY 



