186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



article this year as you did last ? It has proved utterly worth- 

 less. " Now I believe that the manufacturer has sold the 

 second year the same article that he did the first. The differ- 

 ence in the result is owins; to the want of knowledire that has 

 been spoken of. Farmers do not know what their soils actually 

 need to produce the crops which they want. They put into 

 the soil the first year certain substances that the soil needed. 

 The second year it needed other materials that were not con- 

 tained in the fertilizer used before, and if they had furnished 

 those other materials, the crops would have been developed 

 according to their liking. This only shows how important it 

 is to the farmer, and to the manufacturer of manures, that 

 each should know the other's want. That is the reason why 

 I made the statement in my paper, that the benefit of the 

 Agricultural College is incalculable to the farmers of JNIassa- 

 chusetts. It is merely, you may say, the entering wedge ; 

 but while you carry that on, while that is working in its proper 

 sphere, at the same time the farmers throughout Massachu- 

 setts should each lend a heliDing hand. Where can these 

 experiments be better carried on than upon your farms, where 

 you can see the practical results ? That is what the farmer 

 looks to. If he can see his crops growing before his eyes by 

 the addition of various manures, if he can see that there is a 

 diflerence between the results of two manures placed side by 

 side, that is the thing that is important to him. The com- 

 position of the manures may be a blank to him. That is why 

 I proposed this thing in this way. When you apply these dif- 

 ferent manures, you will know the analysis ; or you may all 

 know the analysis of them, because, by the laws of the Com- 

 monwealth, everybody who manufactures fertilizers is obliged 

 to give the analysis ; but, to my mind, a person gets but a 

 very small idea of the value of these fertilizers by the anal^-ses. 

 'They have got along so that they know that a certain amount 

 of soluble phosphoric acid will produce thus and so ; but if it 

 is insoluble, it is inert matter in the soil, and is of no earthly 

 avail. Now, my object in having these experiments tried in 

 that way was, that where you have barn-yard manure, leached 

 ashes, superphosphates, and various admixtures placed side 

 by side, you have an opportunity for comparison. It is 

 ■vitally important to the farmers in different portions of the 



