WHEAT 



49 



often be made of amounts smaller or larger by 50 per cent. Ni- 

 trate of soda should be very uniformly sown, after all lumps 

 have been pulverized. No covering is required, but when harrow- 

 ing can be done without serious injury to the stand of plants, it 



Fig. 19. — Shocks of Wheat from Equal Areas. 



On left, fertilized with nitrate of soda ; on right, no nitrogen in the 

 fertilizer. 



wUl often be helpful, both as a means of hastening the absorption 

 of the nitrate of soda and also for its effects as a cultivation. 



It should always be borne in mind that the application of very 

 large amounts of nitrogen in any form, even in barnyard manure, 

 may cause the straw to grow so taU. and weak that it may fall, 

 or lodge. The application of phosphate and kainit is believed 

 to have a tendency to strengthen the straw and to reduce the 

 danger of lodging. 



Formerly when cotton-seed was worth less than twelve 

 dollars per ton, it was largely used as a fertihzer for wheat. 

 Cotton-seed was plowed in when the wheat was sown, and 

 its use, especially when combined with acid phosphate, 

 was effective. Cotton-seed is now in most localities too 



