1882.] COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 139 



ited and hard to get at, whereas tlie supply of the other 

 ingredients is practically inexhaustible. The addition of 

 one per cent, of nitrogen increases the cost of the fertilizer 

 from four dollars and a half to five dollars a ton. If the 

 farmer can get the same results from a fertilizer containing 

 only three per cent, of nitrogen instead of six per cent., and 

 have a corresponding increase of phosphoric acid and potash, 

 it is a decided benefit to him. In other words, he is not pay- 

 ing his money for what he does not want. 



Right here come in the experiments of Prof. Atwater, 

 which confirm what the fertilizer manufacturer has known, 

 and he is applying the results of those experiments to his 

 business. Prof. Atwater shows conclusively that whereas 

 twenty-four pounds of nitrogen to the acre will produce a 

 paying crop of corn, seventy-four pounds is a decided loss, 

 for it only increases the yield 6.1. Thus the seventy-four 

 potinds are used at a loss, while the twenty-four pounds pay a 

 profit. This is a fact which is well worth learning. 



One other thing in connection with commercial fertilizers ; it 

 is, or ought to be, the policy of every farmer to make all the 

 yard manure he can. It is the basis of all good farming ; 

 there is no question about it. But he can in connection with 

 that, use commercial fertilizers, and get a better result from 

 both ; or he can use dung one year, and get a good crop, and 

 the next year use the commercial fertilizer and get a still 

 better result from the commercial fertilizer. Let me illus- 

 trate this point. I was down on Long Island the other day, 

 where probably in one single county they use more commer- 

 cial fertilizers than they do in the whole State of Connecticut. 

 I saw a farmer there who told me he had used commercial 

 fertihzers until this year, for the last five years. When 

 he began to use them, he said he got very large crops, 

 but his crops decreased until a year ago ; that year he only 

 got two hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes to the acre, 

 while his neighbors got three hundred and fifty. He said 

 this year he went back to stable manure, and got better 

 results from stable manure than he ever did before. That 

 illustrates this very point. You need a change, and there 



