crop that contains 18 lbs. of nitrogen a year, and of this probably the
rain supplies 9 lbs. Let us stir up the soil and see if we cannot set
100 lbs. of this 3,000 lbs. of nitrogen free, and get three tons of hay
per acre instead of half a ton. There are men who own a large amount of
valuable property in vacant city lots, who do not get enough from them
to pay their taxes. If they would sell half of them, and put buildings
on the other half, they might soon have a handsome income. And so it is
with many farmers. They have the elements of 100 tons of hay lying
dormant in every acre of their land, while they are content to receive
half a ton a year. They have property enough, but it is unproductive,
while they pay high taxes for the privilege of holding it, and high
wages for the pleasure of boarding two or three hired men.

We have, say, 3,000 lbs. of nitrogen locked up in each acre of our soil,
and we get 8 or 10 lbs. every year in rain and dew, and yet,
practically, all that we want, to make our farms highly productive, is
100 lbs. of nitrogen per acre per annum. And furthermore, it should be
remembered, that to keep our farms rich, after we have once got them
rich, it is not necessary to develope this amount of nitrogen from the
soil every year. In the case of clover-hay, the entire loss of nitrogen
in the animal and in the milk would not exceed 15 per cent, so that,
when we feed out 100 lbs. of nitrogen, we have 85 lbs. left in the
manure. We want to develope 100 lbs. of nitrogen in the soil, to enable
us to raise a good crop to start with, and when this is once done, an
annual development of 15 lbs. per acre in addition to the manure, would
keep up the productiveness of the soil. Is it not worth while,
therefore, to make an earnest effort to get started?--to get 100 lbs. of
nitrogen in the most available condition in the soil?

As I said before, this is practically all that is needed to give us
large crops. This amount of nitrogen represents about twelve tons of
average barn-yard manure--that is to say, twelve tons contains 100 lbs.
of nitrogen. But in point of fact it is not in an immediately available
condition. It would probably take at least two years before all the
nitrogen it contains would be given up to the plants. We want,
therefore, in order to give us a good start, 24 tons of barn-yard manure
on every acre of land. How to get this is the great problem which our
young dairy farmer has to solve. In the gra