1882.] COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 137 



having exhausted all their resources and finding they can 

 still farm more land with profit, whether good commercial 

 fertilizers are not worth all they purport to be worth, and are 

 not cheaper than manure bought at liveries and places where 

 it costs ten or twelve dollars a cord, and has to be hauled a 

 great distance, involving a great deal more labor and expense 

 to get that manure available to the plant, and also the trans- 

 portation of large quantities of matter that are of no value 

 to the plant. I would like to ask Mr. Hubbard whether a 

 good fertilizer, at forty dollars a ton, is not cheaper than sta- 

 ble manure bought at eight, ten, twelve, or even six dollars a 

 cord ? 



Mr. Hubbard. I hardly see how it is possible to answer 

 such a question as that, situations differ so much, prices vary 

 so much, and the manures, and the opportunities to get them, 

 vary so much. I recommend every body to save and use all 

 the farm manures that they can possibly produce, and if they 

 have opportunities to purchase where the cost is not too great, 

 and the labor of hauling it is not too great, I think it is a 

 very good practice to purchase yard manure. But I cannot 

 on my farm produce near enough to run the farm profitably, 

 as I am running it ; perhaps somebody else could. Beyond 

 that, I do not know of a farm that can be run to the highest 

 profit on the manure that it produces. Some farms are run 

 that way, but they are not those which are run most profit- 

 ably, according to my observation. I think the conditions of 

 agriculture are such here, in Connecticut, that we might lay 

 it down as a general rule, that there are no farms, unless 

 they are very rare exceptions, that can be run at the highest 

 profit, depending solely upon home supplies of manure. 

 Then, what are you going to do ? Do the best you can. If 

 you are so situated that you can buy manure, you may be 

 sure always that it is a good thing, if it does not cost too 

 much. If that is the best thing, in your opinion, buy it. But 

 the conditions vary so that it is impossible to give any gen- 

 eral answer to^uch a question as that. I cannot afford to 

 buy stable manure in New York, (as some people do wlio 

 have farms along the river,) and ship it from there to Mid- 



