:No. 4.] COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 29 



As a whole, there is but little commercial fertilizer used by 

 the Western farmer, even in some localities no farther west 

 than the State of Ohio. He considers his stable manure a 

 burden to him. As we all know, he must practice some 

 methods, must have some way to keep up the fertility of 

 his soil. The question naturally arises, what are his 

 methods, what does he consider cheaper to secure and utilize 

 than commercial or stable manures? The answer is, the 

 system of green manuring, with clover the predominating 

 ingredient. Then the question comes to us, why cannot we 

 practice this same method? My answer is, the climate, soil, 

 and perhaps ignorance bring about a condition of things that 

 make it almost wholly impossible for us to depend upon 

 anything but commercial or stable manure ; consequently we 

 are compelled by force of circumstances to choose between 

 the two, or use both in combination. This latter, in my 

 opinion, is the most unsatisfactory test that commercial fertil- 

 izer has to undergo, both to the farmer and the dealer or manu- 

 facturer, for the average farmer expects too much from his 

 stable manure, and considers he receives too little from his 

 expenditure for commercial fertilizer. 



The use of stable manure alone gives poor returns for the 

 cost and labor required in producing and placing in position 

 to be utilized, owing to our short seasons, and to the small 

 amount of soluble matter which each year becomes available 

 as plant food, even from a large amount of manure neces- 

 sary to give life-force and bring to perfect maturity a crop, 

 guaranteeing a satisfactory result financially. Thus we see 

 many a farmer laboring day after day, from early morn 

 till late in the evening, to raise a crop to feed his stock to 

 make manure to raise more crops to feed more stock to make 

 more manure. I will leave it to you to decide what more 

 he gets out of his year's labor. In my opinion, it is not 

 policy or profitable to haul the average manure a distance of 

 two miles, even if it was presented to you, as compared 

 with the present price and quality of commercial fertilizers 

 that are to be obtained in the New England States, except 

 in some local places and for some special crops, as those 

 places devoted to market gardening. 



The principal question of the times is, Can a person own- 



