VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 85 



farmer may well ask himself, " can I afford to pay so large a 

 sum as this for the manufacture and sale of my fertilizer," and 

 I will venture to say that he cannot, if he can in any way re- 

 duce this expense. 



How may it be done ? Some farmers in this State and a 

 large number in States further south have adopted " home mix- 

 ing " as the means of solving the problem. 



"Home mixing" consists simply in buying, usually for 

 cash, the crude fertilizing materials, such as sodium nitrate, 

 dried blood, tankage, bone-black, acid phosphate, etc., unmixed, 

 and mixing them together at the farm. My experience in this 

 business dates back to 1897. A careful study of the matter con- 

 vinced me that a saving could be effected, and so, having won 

 my father over to the scheme, I decided to give it atrial. Hav- 

 ing found out that the raw materials could be purchased from 

 any of the fertilizer companies as easily as " sugar and spices" 

 at a grocery store, I sent a list of some of the best known raw 

 materials to seven different companies, asking them to give me 

 prices on the same. Before long, beautifully colored catalogues 

 began to arrive, setting forth the merits, by testimonials and 

 illustrations, of this and that particular brand ; and one com- 

 pany was so kind as to send its agent around to tell me that I 

 was on the wrong track, and that I had better give up the un- 

 dertaking. But at last one company sent the desired quota- 

 tions. 



Now came the problem of what materials to use and how 

 much of each, and this is indeed a puzzling problem to the be- 

 ginner. A careful study, however, of bulletin 47 of our Vermont 

 station and other bulletins which I obtained for the asking from 

 the Rhode Island and New Jersey Experiment stations, reinforced 

 by a little chemistry soon cleared up the mystery, and with a few 

 changes I used one of the formulas given in the bulletins, which 

 was as follows : 



200 lbs. sodium nitrate. 

 400 " tankage. 

 1,000 " dissolved boneblack. 

 400 " muriate of potash. 

 I made arrangements with the local agent for the company from 

 which I received the quotations, to have the chemicals come in 

 the same car with his mixed goods, thereby reducing the freight 

 to car-load rates, and saving about $1.00 per ton. 



When the goods arrived, the next thing was the mixing, 

 and this may be called the laborious part of the business. With 

 one man for a helper I undertook the task one rainy morning. 

 Since this was a new business to us, we thought it best to make 

 haste slowly, so we began by mixing about 500 pounds at a time. 

 After weighing out the different materials in the right proportions, 



