POTATOES. 31 



I understand the gentleman also to recommend the manu- 

 facture of superphosphates by farmers. I know it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to obtain pure superphosphates, and yet there 

 are manufacturers who can be relied upon, and whose article 

 produces the same result every time. But I want to caution 

 farmers, tliat in counting the cost of home-made superphos- 

 phate they must add to the cost of the sulphuric acid, the 

 bones and tlie labor, the price of a suit of clothes, a pair of 

 boots, and the pain and discomfort of burnt hands. I don't 

 object to the advice ; I only want farmers, if they go into that 

 manufacture, to do so with their eyes open. I think the gen- 

 tleman himself will find that he can buy superphosphates 

 much cheaper than he can manufacture them, if he is careful 

 to purchase only of men who are reliable. 



Dr. Baldwin. — I wish to correct the gentleman in one re- 

 spect. I have made superphosphates enough, in the way I 

 spoke of, to use on thirteen acres, and not a man had his fin- 

 gers burnt, his boots spoiled, or a rag of his clothing injured. 

 I don't believe that I got from the bone one-fiftli of its value, 

 but I believe it is in the soil, and if it is reduced to such a 

 condition that it will bend between the thumb and finger, it 

 will eventually be a benefit to the soil. It was worth double 

 any superphosphate I ever bought for present use, and cost 

 just about half as much. I have had some experience in buy- 

 ing superphosphate. I bought of one man, in two years, $230 

 worth, and I had the satisfaction of knowing that the state 

 chemist decided that superphosphate to be worth six dollars 

 a ton. I paid forty dollars a ton. The way I handle the acid 

 is this. I take an old iron kettle and carefully pour the acid 

 from the carboy into it. Then I put four pails of water into 

 a kettle, and put the kettle containing the acid into the water. 

 Tliere is no flying or sputtering of the acid, and there is no 

 need of spoiling any of your clothes. 



I put the question, whether the seed end or the butt end of 

 the potato was worth the most for seed, because I had tried 

 that experiment. I cut two bushels of potatoes across, and 

 planted the seed ends in two rows, and the butt ends in two 

 rows. Of course they were just equal as to the number of 



