96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



genous bodies, — have a fixed market value, and the difference 

 in price between their purchase, in moderate or large quan- 

 tities, is not great enough to give to large manufacturers an 

 advantage worthy the attention of honest men. A bag of 

 nitrate of soda (three hundred pounds) holding nitrogen, or 

 of kainite (chloride of potassum) holding potash, or a ton of 

 bones or coprolites, holding phosphoric acid, can be purchased, 

 at original sources of supply, at a cost but a trifle higher than 

 is placed upon them when large amounts are taken. The mar- 

 gin of cost between large and small quantities of raw materials 

 is not great enough, under usual conditions, to compensate 

 honest men for preparing honest compounds, as the cost of 

 manipulating and handling such heavy and bulky bodies is very 

 great. This cost added to freight, and the commissions to 

 middle men, wholesale and retail dealers, will consume a much 

 larger sum than can be secured by advantages of purchase of 

 raw materials. It is true the owners of sulphuric acid works, 

 and of coprolite deposits, must have considerable advantage, on 

 the score of cost, over those who undertake to manufacture 

 fertilizers in a small way ; but this advantage, I contend, is 

 insufficient to afford satisfactory profits when good articles are 

 produced. They do not secure the advantage of half a cent a 

 pound on the acid, as that is a large manufacturer's profit ; and a 

 monopoly of any source of phosphoric acid potash, or nitro- 

 genized products, is now almost impossible. A farmer preparing 

 his own fertilizers has an immense pecuniary advantage over a 

 large manufacturer. He can prepare them in seasons of leisure, 

 when the time consumed in manipulation does not enter in as 

 an element of cost. He saves the commissions paid to large 

 and small dealers, he saves in cost of transportation, and he 

 can purchase pure raw materials at nearly as good advantage 

 as the manufacturer. Why should not the farmer prepare his 

 own fertilizers ? It requires but a small amount of skill ; but if 

 the farmer feels that he is not sufficiently well educated or 

 experienced, he must remove these disabilities at once, by 

 reading, .study and experiment. The farmer of the period, to 

 succeed, must be competent to prepare the food necessary for 

 the plant children of his fields, or else he must expect to be 

 left behind in the work of profitable husbandry. 



