1896.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 149 



The consumption of commercial fertilizers is steadily in- 

 creasing, a circumstance apparently not less due to a more 

 general recognition of their good services, if judiciously 

 selected and applied, than to gradual improvements in regard 

 to their mechanical condition as well as their general chemi- 

 cal character. A noticeable change regarding the chemical 

 composition of many brands of so-called complete or formula 

 fertilizers of to-day, as compared with those offered for simi- 

 lar purposes at an earlier period in the history of the trade in 

 commercial fertilizers, consists in a more general and more 

 liberal use of potash compounds as a prominent constituent. 

 This change has been slow but decided, and may in a large 

 degree be ascribed to the daily increasing evidence, resting 

 on actual observations in the field and garden, that the farm 

 lands of Massachusetts are quite frequently especially defi- 

 cient in potash compounds, and consequently need in many 

 instances a more liberal supply of available potash from 

 outside sources to give satisfactory returns. Whenever the 

 cultivation of garden vegetables, fruits and forage crops con- 

 stitutes the principal products of the land, this recent change 

 in the mode of manuring deserves in particular a serious 

 trial ; for the crops raised consume exceptionally large quan- 

 tities of potash, as compared with grain crops. In view of 

 these facts, it will be conceded that a system of manuring 

 farm and garden, which tends to meet more satisfactory 

 recognized conditions of large areas of land as well as the 

 special wants of important growing branches of agricultural 

 industries, is a movement in the right direction. A judi- 

 cious management of the trade in commercial fertilizers 

 implies a due recognition of well-established experimental 

 results regarding the requirements of a remunerative pro- 

 duction of farm and garden crops. 



