FOOD FOR PLANTS 87 



than ever — no fertilizer and no legume can ever sub- 

 stitute for the eye of the Master. There is no royal 

 road to farming any more than there is to learning, 

 but there are helps to farm management and to nat- 

 ural soil resources that are of advantage even to new 

 soils. Plant food deficiencies occur in logical se- 

 quence as natural as the setting of the sun. The soil 

 must not be treated as a mine but rather as an in- 

 strumentality for the growing of crops. 



1. Without Nitro- 2. 1/3 Ration of Ni- 3. Full Ration of 

 gen. trogen. Nitrogen. 



All three fertilized alike with Muriate of Potash and Acid Phosphate. — 

 R. I. Bui. 103. 



Soil deficiencies occur most often as to Nitrogen, 

 Phosphorus and Potash. Available Nitrogen is most 

 often deficient in the soils of the Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, but even in our Middle States low crop yields 

 suggest the desirability of supplying available nitro- 

 gen for better crops. 



According to a recent United States Department 

 Year Book our leading crops remove from the soil 

 much more Nitrogen than phosphorus or potash. It 

 is comparatively easy chemically to determine the 

 amounts of phosphorus and potash but not so easy 

 except by practical crop growing to determine the 



