6 



livered for consumption s due chiefly to the freights and the profits of 

 the syndicate controlling the business. 



The factories where it is prepared for the market are at or near the 

 deposits, and the freights thence to the seacoast in Chile are very high. 

 The railroads which have been constructed to the high plateaux which 

 contain the deposits have been built at a very great cost, and the freights 

 chaiged a>e correspondingly high. There is also a tax of T20 dol. 

 levied by the Chilian government on each ton exported Deducting 

 all costs of transportation and export duties, the actual value of sodium 

 nitrate at the factory ready for shipment is about 16 dols. in gold a ton. 



METHOD OF PRESERVING NITRATES IN THE SOIL. 



It is not possible at all times to maintain an equilibrium between 

 the activity of the nitrifying organism and the needs of a growing crop. 

 There are times when the amount of nitric acid produced is greater 

 than the crop demands, while at other periods the needs of the crops 

 may be far in excess of the ability of the organisms to supply. In the 

 one case there will be a necessary increase in the amount of nitrates in 

 the soil, while in the other the vigour of the growing crop will be at 

 least temporarily checked. There are many practical points connected 

 with this matter which must be of great interest to the farmer. As a 

 rule, farming operations are carried on for profit and not for pleasure, 

 and for this reason the more practical the results of scientific study the 

 more useful they become to the great mass of agriculturists. The rich 

 man who farms for pleasure can easily afford expenses in the way of 

 fertilize s which the practical farmer must avoid. Happily, at those 

 seasons of the year when crops grow less vigorously the activity of the 

 nitrifying organisms is reduced to a minimum. For instance, the 

 amount of nitric acid which is produced during tho winter is a very 

 small quantity as compared with the production during the warm 

 months. In the natural order of things, therefore, there is a tendency 

 to conserve to the utmost the products of nitrification. 



ABSORPTION OF NITRATES BY PI ANTS. 



Evidently the very best method of utilising the products of the ac- 

 tivity of tho soil ferments is to have them absorbed by a growing crop. 

 For this reason, os well as for others of an economical nature, the far- 

 mer should have as little waste land as possible. Every acre which he 

 possesses should either be devoted to forest, orchard, grass, pasturage, 

 or cultivated crops. By thus occupying the land he will reduce to a 

 minimum the losses which occur from the leaching of the soil by 

 watpr. 



It is well known that all agiicultural crops store immense quanti- 

 ties of organic nitrogen in their tissues. As a rule the highest per- 

 centages of nitrogenous organic compounds are found in the seeds of 

 plants, but it must not be forgotten that certain grasses which are har- 

 vested for hay also contain large quantities of nitrogen. This is espe- 

 cially true of clover. It is easily seen from the above how wasteful is 

 the practice, now happily almost extinct, of burning the residue of 

 cereal crops — as, far instance, Indian cornstalks and the straw of wheat 

 — in order to prevent them from obstructing subsequent tillage. In this 

 wasteful process it is true that the phosphoric acid and potash are saved 

 and returned to the soil, but all the nitrogenous compounds are prac- 

 tically lost and dissipated in the air. The quantity of ammonia and 



