COMMERCIAL MANURES. 219 



as anxious as every right minded person to put a stop to the scan- 

 dalous proceedings now and then revealed to us." 



Eecfently, he says in his annual report as chemist to the Eoyal 

 Agricultural Society, " The number of analyses made for members 

 in 18G8 is four hundred and thirty-two, a larger number than in any 

 previous year. By far the larger proportion of the class to which 

 superphosphate belongs were found of good qualit}^ well prepared 

 and worth the money at which they were offered for sale. Of late 

 years the manufacture of superphosphate has much improved, and 

 notwithstanding its superior quality and intrinsic value the market- 

 price has not been increased." 



It would seem, therefore, that the manufacture and sale has for 

 the larger part, passed into the hands of " highly respectable, fair 

 dealing and skilled parties ;" and no doubt can be entertained that 

 a similar result will be reached in this country, and with greater 

 rapidity than obtained in England. » 



The remark is frequently made, '^ I don't believe that any com- 

 mercial fertilizers are as good as barn manure, ayid therefore I 

 will have nothing to do with them." To such my reply is, that 

 the premise is admitted without the slightest hesitation, but the 

 legitimacy of the conclusion is open to doubt. If you have farm- 

 yard manure enough, you are the very man to let commercial 

 manures alone. But have you ? 



Suppose I was to visit the shop of a surgeon-mechanic, and after 

 critically examining the artificial legs and arms and crutches and 

 splints and supporters, should tell him that I thought his wares 

 were vastly inferior to those of nature's providing, and that I 

 would have none of them ; I submit whether he would not answer 

 my objection fairly, and fully, by replying, — " I do not expect you 

 to buy of me. I labor not for the whole, but for the crippled. 

 There are those who are willing to avail themselves of my assist- 

 ance, and to pay me for my labor." 



So it is with most of us. There are few New England farmers 

 who do not have to deal with crippled land — land unable to bear the 

 burdens of a successful agriculture without artificial helps — un- 

 able, too, in part, because we, and our fathers before us, have 

 dealt hardly by it. We have taken too much from it, and have 

 given too little to it ; and the day of reckoning has come, as come 

 it always will, in every case, sooner or later, where the laws of 

 order are violated. It is well for us to remember that God^s laws 

 all take care of themselves, in due time, and equally so whether the 



