204 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



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 se- 

 lected and applied, than to gradual improvements in regard 

 to their mechanical condition as well as their general chem- 

 ical character. A noticeable change, referred to already in 

 a previous report, regarding the chemical composition of 

 many brands of so-called complete or formula fertilizers of 

 to-day, as compared Avith those offered for similar purposes 

 at an earlier period in the history of the trade in commer- 

 cial fertilizers, consists in a more general and more liberal 

 use of potash compounds as a prominent constituent. This 

 change has l)een slow ])ut decided, and in a large degree may 

 be ascribed to the daily increasing evidence, resting on actual 

 observations in the Held and garden, that the farm lands of 

 Massachusetts are quite frequentl}' especially deticient in pot- 

 ash 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 constitutes 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 quantities 

 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. 



The present condition of the trade in commercial fertilizers 

 offers exceptional advantages to provide efficient manures for, 

 the raising of farm and garden crops of every description 

 congenial to soil and climate. The various essential articles 

 of plant food, as potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen com- 

 pounds, are freely offered for sale in forms suitable to render 

 the dirterent kinds of the home manurial i'(>fusc material of 

 the farm in a higher degree fit to meet the special wants 

 of the crops to be raised. 



Mixed fertilizers, designed to supply the essential articles 

 of plant food with reference to the needs of special crops, 



