MANUS A HAND. 1 09 



three elements ; and if these things are placed in the 

 soil, they act as fertilizers. Such fertilizers are called 

 commercial fertilizers, and they are very largely used 

 in place of manures. There seems to be, at first 

 glance, a great variety; and we may wonder which 

 we had better use for our plants. If we read the 

 advertisements of the people who sell these fertilizers, 

 we might fancy all we had to do would be to buy a 

 few bags of these wonderful things, and have potatoes 

 as big as watermelons and corn as tall as a two-story 

 house. These commercial fertilizers are good, some 

 of them are very good indeed ; and if we wish to 

 raise good crops in our old fields, we shall do well 

 to purchase some of them. Which shall we buy ? One 

 man says his fertilizer will make our Lima beans try 

 to climb a steeple ; and another man shows us beau- 

 tiful pictures of wheat as tall as a horse, and other 

 wonderful crops, growing on soils made rich with his 

 special and truly remarkable chemicals. How shall 

 we find out whether our fields require nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus, or potassium ? How can we tell whether the 

 land would produce more if calcium were put upon 

 it? If we look at these commercial fertilizers, we 

 shall be more bewildered than ever. Not one of 

 them gives the slightest sign of these elements as they 

 appear in a pure state. The fertilizers look like mere 

 dust and ashes, having a strong and disagreeable 

 smell ; and we have to trust to the dealer in these 

 things. If he says nitrogen is locked up in his bags 

 of chemicals, we must take his word for it. This is 



