1884.] QUESTIONS. 235 



know any reason why that would not be all right." I said to 

 him, " You ask me $50 a ton for a fertilizer the analysis of 

 which shows there is only about ten per cent, of phosphoric 

 acid, three or three and a half of nitrogen, and four per cent, 

 of potash, while I can buy your Peruvian guano for $55 a ton, 

 which contains more than double the amount of phosphoric 

 acid, and nearly double the amount of nitrogen. I will risk 

 the running of my land too hard. Besides that," I said, 

 " I consider Peruvian guano more valuable than anything else 

 I can find in the market ; I consider that plants assimilate 

 Peruvian guano more readily than any other fertilizer." He 

 admitted it. 



I tried experiments with different fertilizers on cabbage 

 and potatoes, using the perfect fertilizer, containing nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash, special fertilizers containing 

 phosphoric acid and potash, leaving out the nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid and nitrogen, phosphoric acid alone, nitrogen alone, 

 potash alone, plaster (sulphate of lime), and also Peruvian 

 guano, the Stockbridge fertilizer, and Bradley's fertilizer. 

 The Peruvian guano costs us $54.60, delivered on the ground. 

 The State of Connecticut experiment station said that it was 

 worth about $6-4.90 a ton, figuring on their basis. The Stock- 

 bridge cost us |50 a ton, delivered on the ground. As we 

 figured it, its value was about $33 a ton. Bradley's was worth 

 about $38.30 a ton; it cost $42.50. 



Now for the result with the potatoes : We weighed ten 

 hills. The first row gave us 26 pounds for Peruvian guano. 

 The next row had nothing; it gave us 7 J pounds; an increase 

 of 19f pounds for the Peruvian guano. The perfect fertilizer, 

 containing nitrogen, phosphoric, and potash, gave us 20 pounds 

 — just 6 pounds less than the Peruvian guano. Phosphoric 

 acid and potash gave us 14 pounds. Nitrogen and potash 

 gave us 9| pounds. Nitrogen and phosphoric acid gave us 12 

 pounds. Phosphoric acid alone gave us llf. Common plas- 

 ter gave us 11^. Nitrogen gave us 7 pounds and 10 oz. 

 Potash gave us 5|. The next row had nothing, and gave us 

 6 pounds. The Stockbridge fertilizer gave us 13 pounds, and 



