This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 Excerpt: ...But without any change except the addition of "a sufficient quantity of nitrate of soda, or nitrate of lime would be equally effective, he can grow a crop of from 30 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre every year." His calculation is that he can thus increase the produce from 10 bushels of corn and 1000 lbs. of straw, to 20 bushels and 2000 lbs. of straw, or to 30 bushels and 3000 lbs. of straw, according to the amount of nitrate. The total produce carted off being respectively 1600 lbs., 3200 lbs., 4800 lbs. He says it will be sufficiently accurate " to say that only 6 lbs. of every 100 lbs. are furnished by the soil, while 94 lbs. are furnished by the atmosphere; and of the 6 lbs. furnished by the soil, 5 lbs. consist of minerals, and 1 lb. of nitrogen." I But calling attention to the seasons, he warns us "that in favourable seasons there will be abundance of grain, and in unfavourable seasons very little." What Is Condition? That is another very important matter in Sir John Lawes's Paper. How is the nitrogen put into the soil to be made available without waste? This enables us to get an answer to a question to which very hazy answers are often given by valuers and others: What do we mean by "condition "? Sir J. Lawes "deals with a certain class of compounds of carbon with nitrogen.... as it is these compounds which constitute what is commonly called ' condition.'" He says: "When purchased foods are consumed upon the farm, but a small portion of the nitrogen they contain is carried off in the increase of the animal; the larger moiety is found in the urine, though two very important parts exist in the solid excrement, one in the form of undigested food, and the other in the indigestible portion of the food...