CHAPTER XVIII. 



HOME-MIXING OF COTTON FERTILIZERS : SAVING THE 

 MANUFACTURER'S PROFIT 



Home-mixing of fertilizers deserves much more 

 attention than it receives. The fact that standard 

 brands may cost from five to fifteen dollars a ton 

 more than the commercial value of the several in- 

 gredients of plant food; the fact that fertilizing 

 materials are standard articles of trade and may be 

 purchased as such; and the fact that the many manu- 

 factured brands are only composed of materials 

 such as the farmer may purchase himself, all suggest 

 the wisdom of farm-mixing rather than factory- 

 mixing. 



The claim has been constantly advanced, but 

 principally by agents of factory-mixed goods, that 

 home-mixing is not advisable and that the work 

 here cannot be done properly. This claim is 

 altogether untrue, so far as the principle of home- 

 mixing goes. That some fertilizing materials have 

 been mixed hastily and poorly on some farms, 

 we have no doubt: but so has plowing on some 

 farms been poorly done; so have seeds been im- 

 properly selected; and so has culture of the grow- 

 ing crop often been neglected, or the wrong prin- 

 ciples followed. But shall we abandon tillage and 

 seed selection because someone else is thoughtless 

 or because he fails ? Rather, if the principle is cor- 



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