New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 123 



artificial imitation; for, after all, a Chemical or Artificial fer- 

 tilizer is simply an attempt in an artificial manner to supply the 

 crops with a chemical mixture which is simply an imitation of a 

 first-class Natural fertilizer; surely the Almighty is a better 

 chemist than the human race has yet produced and better knows 

 the need of all growing things." 



The Ohio Experiment Station made a test of this matter and 

 they conclude that " the claim made for a soft phosphate as a 

 quick germinator is rather rash, and that, as a matter of fact, it 

 is inferior to the green-house soil without a fertilizer." 



The Commissioner of Agriculture of Georgia recently called 

 the attention of the farmers of his State to the sale of soft phos- 

 phate under the name " Natural Plant Food," and the following 

 extract is taken from his statement: 



'' There is a material now being sold in Georgia which is at- 

 tracting considerable attention on account of the extensive ad- 

 vertising which has been given it and the broad claims which 

 have been made. This material is the soft phosphate of Florida. 

 These phosphates contain only two or three per cent of available 

 phosphoric acid, and in no way represent the acid phosphates 

 of the market, which contain from thirteen to fourteen per cent 

 of available phosphoric acid. This material has not been tried 

 suflQciently to demonstrate whether it is in any way superior to 

 ordinary floats. 



" These phosphates contain from fifteen per cent to twenty- 

 seven per cent of total phosphoric acid. They usually, how- 

 ever, run about twenty per cent. This, its promoters claim, 

 can all be secured by the plant the first season. The evidence 

 thus far has not been of a conclusive nature. The claim cer- 

 tainly appears an unwarranted one, as positive proof is wanting. 

 Acid phosphates of the market usually contain from fourteen 

 to eighteen per cent of total phosphoric acid, of which from 

 thirteen to sixteen per cent is available, and the soft phosphates 

 only about twenty per cent of total phosphoric acid, with about 

 two and one-half per cent available. The law of Georgia rec- 

 ognizes, as commercial plant food, available phosphoric acid, 

 and does not so recognize insoluble phosphoric acid. If the 



