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BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



value of a fertilizer is not necessarily altered by a change in 

 the relative proportion of its constituents ; its peculiar agri- 

 cultural value always is ; for each of its essential ingredients, 

 as potassa, phosphoric acid, nitrogen, etc., has a function of 

 its own ; they are, it is true, equally indispensable for plant- 

 growth, yet they cannot substitute each other. The most 

 important information which the farmer needs, to secure to 

 himself the full agricultural value of any commercial fertilizer 

 offered for sale, consists in knowing the exact kind, the 

 amount and the chemical and physical condition of the essen- 

 tial articles of plant-food it contains ; without it, a rational 

 system of manuring becomes impossible. Commercial fertil- 

 izers are too expensive to be used without a careful consider- 

 ation as to whether they will bring speedy returns or not. 

 The time when fertilizers and refuse-matter meant the same 

 thing has passed by. 



The surest way to establish a reputation for a well-prepared 

 fertilizer, which contains one or more of the essential articles 

 of plant- food, — next to a reasonable price, — is to furnish it of 

 a uniform composition. Reliable standard fertilizers are 

 needed in the interest of a rational system of manuring and 

 of a good economy. As soon as they are becoming of a 

 changeable character, it is safer for the farmer to buy the 

 crude stock and compound the materials he wishes to use. 



Superphosphates and Ammoxiated Superphosphates. 

 I. Enoch Coe's XX. 



