EXPERIMENTS WITH FEETILIZERS. 75 



yet by buying these needed materials, and them only, in 

 chemical fertilizers, I could feed my crops liberally, and at a 

 very much less expense. Since I first discovered this fact, 

 I have yearly increased the use of these chemical fertilizers, 

 and find that my profits have increased in a similar ratio. I 

 have found that I could grow corn, and probably many other 

 crops, cheaper on chemicals than on stable manure. By 

 keeping as exact an account of fields with chemicals alone, 

 and] those with stable manure, I am satisfied that chemicals, 

 if rightly used, are as cheap as stable manure at $4.00 per 

 cord, including carting and spreading it on the field, which 

 is much cheaper than I can make or buy it. 



What advantages can others derive from these experi- 

 ments? If you take these experiments of mine as your 

 guide, and depend on them for a knowledge of what fertil- 

 izers are needed on your difl:erent farms, you will probably 

 derive but little, if any, advantages from them. I have not 

 reported them for any such purpose, but rather to show you 

 what I have learned for myself, and the process b}' which I 

 have done it ; and by telling you how much advantage I 

 have derived thereby. I hope to induce others to undertake 

 such work for themselves. These experiments, taken alone 

 and by themselves, are onl}^ a guide to me and those in my 

 immediate vicinity. But general averages, obtained by com- 

 paring such experiments, conducted in diflferent localities, 

 are of general value. By comparing these experiments with 

 others conducted in diiferent parts of the country, and reported 

 to Prof. Atwater, as published in the "American Agricul- 

 turist," the reports of the Commissioner of the State Board 

 of Agriculture, and in 1882 by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington, we find that they correspond very closely 

 with the average of all the others, the only exception being, 

 that in most of the experiments reported to Prof. Atwater, 

 potatoes and oats were benefited more by the addition of 

 nitrogeneous materials than corn, while with me there wa 

 but little difference in its effect on either. But many of these 

 diflferent experimenters obtained results varying greatly. 

 Some of them found superphosphate to be almost a specific 

 for their crops, especially for corn. Such was the result ob- 

 tained by Mr. Bartholomew of Putnam, Conn. Others, like 



