fUN!\ VY I 



FRAUDS IN FERTILIZERS 305 



show any entry of a copyright for the process of compounding the Farmers' 

 Compound Fertilizer by I. J. Britain. The directions are a jumble which no 

 one can follow. He uses 25 pounds of saltpetre, or nitrate of potash The 

 nitrogen and potash can be had in far cheaper forms. The bushel of common 

 salt is of no use whatever. Carbolic acid is used, and this is of no value as 

 plant food, and, in fact, would be a preservative from decay and a hindrance 

 to germination. But the whole process is so absurd and wasteful of time and 

 labor that it would seem it is only needed to state it to see this. But many 

 simple minded folks are annually caught by just such pretenders, and our 

 lists of humbugs would hardly be complete without this one, which flourishes 

 close to the home of the author. 



The way to deal with all these secret process fellows is to report them at 

 once to your Experiment Station, and their secret will be gotten, and pub- 

 lished and shown up in its true colors. There is not a Station in any of the 

 States that will not furnish, free of charge, correct formulas for the mixing 

 of concentrated fertilizers to the farmers of the State on application. As we 

 have said, it is the men who do not read and do not take the agricultural 

 papers who get caught with these baits, and pay far more than the correct 

 information to be gained by reading would cost them. 



