130 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bushels, as specified in the formula. The question of the soil 

 taking plant food from the air is an old one. If the plant depend 

 mainl}' on the atmosphere for nutrition, then, he asked, what is 

 the necessity of fertilizing the soil ? and called on Dr. Sturtevant 

 to answer this question. And whj' is it that a gravelly New Eng- 

 land soil will not produce as good a crop as the Scioto Valley ? 

 An atmosphere of the same quality hangs over both. Does not 

 Prof. Stockbridge represent that it will not pay to hire a man to 

 cart barnyard manure ? * 



One farmer had spoken of Peruvian guano as supplanting barn- 

 yard manure. A Scotchman once said he had found out a new 

 fertilizer of which he could carry enough for an acre in his vest 

 pocket. Mr. Wetherell said that he would buy stable manure, and 

 take good care in purchasing fertilizers. He spoke of a farmer in 

 Westfield who got just enough more corn by applying guano, to 

 pay for the guano. All such attempts as that under discussion, 

 have only served to mislead farmers and cheat them out of their 

 money. He did not believe that we can say " so much nitrogen, 

 potash, and phosphoric acid, and so much corn." He intended, 

 nevertheless, to try the prescription for a crop of grass. 



William H. Bowker said that the patent on Prof. Stockbridge's 

 formulas, about which so much has been said, was in effect a copy- 

 right, and should not be so severely criticised. The formulas of 

 Prof. Stockbridge have been printed and spread broadcast, and 

 the farmers can go where they choose to buy the materials used in 

 compounding. Prof. Stockbridge had for his object in obtaining 

 this patent the protection of his own name, and at the same time 

 the protection of the farmers against gross frauds, and he should 

 be praised rather than blamed for this course. Without the patent 

 or copyright, scores of parties all over the country would have set 

 up to compound these formulas, but what guarantee would Prof. 

 Stockbridge or the public have had that they were honestlj' or 

 properly prepared? 



* See his " Experiments in Feeding Plants " in the Thirteenth Annual 

 Eeport of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and in the Twenty- 

 third Annual Eeport of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture. ^ 



