PREFACE. 



fTHE self-explanatory title of this book enables me to dispense 

 with a lengthy introduction, nor, if I were to write one, could 

 I add anything to what I have endeavored to say in its pages. 



It embodies many facts, figures and suggestions resulting from 

 long observation and an extremely varied practical experience ; 

 and while these are designed for the exclusive use of specialists, 

 I trust that, taken altogether, it will prove highly profitable read- 

 ing^to all those numerous classes directly or indirectly interested 

 in the production, manufacture, sale and consumption of com- 

 mercial fertilizers. 



I have endeavored to couch it in common, every-day language, 

 and have avoided as far as possible all unnecessary chemical for- 

 mulae and technical terms. In a word, my aim and ambition 

 have been to make it intelligible and useful to the ordinary 

 careful reader, and if I have partially succeeded in this, I shall 

 be more than repaid for the labor it has cost me. 



THE AUTHOR. 



LABORATORY OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY, 

 12 PARK PLACE, NEW YORK. 



