162 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



centage of water to remain in the material, thus 

 adding to its weight. I had the curiosity to exam- 

 ine a specimen of what "was called " superphos- 

 phate," sent to me last spring by a manufacturer, 

 and it was found to contain 16 per cent, of water. 

 Sixteen pounds in each one hundred would give 

 in the ton 320 Ibs., so that a farmer in purchasing 

 a ton of this article receives but 1,680 Ibs. If he 

 pays $60 the ton, the water costs him $9.60. This 

 sum goes into the pocket of the manufacturer, along 

 with the very respectable profits resulting from the 

 low cost of most of the materials which enter into 

 the compost. How many farmers, in their pur- 

 chases of fertilizers, have ever taken into account 

 the item of water which is held in association ? In 

 all such purchases they should have in view two 

 considerations : 1st, the quality or genuineness of 

 the material itself; 2d, its dryness or freedom from 

 moisture. 



I have said that the labor in moving water upon 

 the farm begins in the early spring. It does not 

 end with that season. There is no body or sub- 

 stance which requires transportation, save rocks 

 and the iron implements of agriculture, into which 

 water does not enter as an important element, 

 gravity alone being considered. The seed dropped 

 in the earth holds it ; the earth moved by the 

 hoe or cultivator clings to its associated particles 



