166 BOAED OF AGEICTLTURE. [Vuh. Doc. 



proportions are sold in large qnantities : but these are sup- 

 plemented judiciously by the use of potash salts, hasie slag, 

 bone meal or other materials. aecoDiing to the special 

 requirements. Occasionally also so-called complete ma- 

 nures are sold even in Germany, in certain instances a large 

 proportion of sand and nitrogen in the form of steamed 

 and roasted leather being mixed with mineral phosphate, in 

 order to meet the demand of the ignorant peasant who 

 thinks of the amount of the ingredients or weight of ma- 

 terials ol>tained r^ardless of the assimilability, and who 

 pays freight on smd under the delusive influence of the too 

 common idea that that which is offered at a low price is nec- 

 essarily most economical. If such a system of purchasing 

 fertilizers is to prerail to so great an extent in this country 

 as at present, if the brand name and the cost or commercial 

 value of the goods is to be the crucial criterion used in buy- 

 ing, and if greater attention and study are not given to this 

 subject, the future of agriculture must remain more or less 

 dark, and the time spent by our stations in solving the 

 important problems bearing upon plant production will have 

 been spent in vain. There is not to-day one young man in 

 Toar Agricoltnral Collie where there should be fifty, and 

 many fermers are still plodding. The future of the Ameri- 

 can &rmer will be determined by whether he goes into fann- 

 ing with ready capital, or with an overwhelming mortgage, 

 bearing from thirty to fifty per cent greater interest than the 

 capital invested in other oc-cupations : by his business enter- 

 prise : and by his education and consequent ability to meet 

 and cope with other business c-ombinations. Shall the Amer- 

 ican former become a peasant, or a business man ? For the 

 benefit of the masses, and to the end that the oldest and 

 most honorable occopation of mankind may be ennobled 

 instead c:' . " ' ^nd that the work of agricultural inves- 

 tigation L,_ _ . : - ard and its teachings be economically 

 applied, let your Agricultural College, as such, be strength- 

 ened in certain departments: carry, then, repeatedly, by 

 special emissaries ; - - - -,- ^ knowledge of what it offers 

 to every farm in : .wealth and the future of your 



agriculture and of the ^lassachosetts farmer will be assured- 



