Preserving Green Forage 121 



cessors. One of these mills commuted so fine 

 that a lump of anthracite coal the size of a 

 hen's egg would fill a quart bottle, and another 

 would pulverize hard cobble-stones, the size of 

 my two fists, as fast as I could throw them 

 into the mill. Mr. Randall was employed by 

 his predecessors, the mills afterwards coming 

 into his possession, and from long experience 

 is the proper person in the proper place to 

 produce the best ground bone. The proper 

 amount of commutation is a prominent factor 

 in the manufacture of fertilizers. 



It would be out of place for me to speak of 

 fertilizers, except in a general way, because in 

 this little book I try to confine myself to state- 

 ments of facts, and say little about what I 

 don't know; and fertilizers to me are some- 

 thing like oleomargarine and sausages, vague 

 and uncertain in composition, yet having a 

 value as food for vegetables and an improved 

 food for vegetarians, although unknown com- 

 pounds, prescribed as simples. 



