NINTH CHAPTER. 



CHEMICAL SYMBOLS, FORMULAS, ANT) 

 ATOMIC WEIGHTS. 



The Experiment Station chemists, and other 

 writers on matters pertaining to fertilizers, fre- 

 quently make use, in bulletins and agricultural 

 journals, of a system of lettering and figuring which 

 somewhat resembles the mysterious signs and 

 characters found in physicians' prescriptions. The 

 aim I have in view in writing this chapter, is to give 

 to those who wish to fathom all these mysteries, a 

 clue for the understanding of the true meaning of 

 such sign- writing. While an intimate knowledge 

 of it is not indispensable for the full understanding 

 of the problems treated in the second and third parts 

 of this volume, yet on the other hand, the young 

 man who aspires to a front rank among progressive 

 farmers, cannot afford to remain in entire ignorance 

 of all these things. 



The explanation of the mystery is as follows: All 

 chemical elements are represented by symbols which 

 are the first letters of their respective names. Only 



