82 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cal in different fields and in different years on my farm, always 

 showing a tendency to the same characteristics. 



"I have learned that these fertilizers are much superior in 

 quality to those we obtained before the establishment of the Expe- 

 riment Station. 



" I have learned that this farm, which my father, after fifty 

 years of acquaintance and cultivation, pronounced ill-adapted 

 to the raising of corn, gives me, under similar treatment, with 

 the use of phosphate of lime in addition, in corn one of my most 

 profitable crops. 



" I think I have learned that, by the proper use of commercial 

 fertilizers as indicated in the different trials, I can obtain, at fair 

 profit, finer potatoes, free from disease and blemish, than by any 

 other means known to me. 



"I have learned that by the use of one or more of these sub- 

 stances as adjuncts to farm manures, I have been enabled to 

 obtain at small expense, superior crops of corn, oats, and potatoes 

 with less manure, while the remainder of the manure applied as 

 top-dressing to grass lands, has materialh' increased m}- crops of 

 hay. And, finally, to include the whole matter, I find that I am 

 keeping much more stock, getting better crops, and better satis- 

 faction from my farm than before." 



Mr. Fairchild has also given me some account of what he has 

 learned from his experimenting. He summarizes as follows : 



" I think they have helped me and will help me in many 

 ways : 



1. They show what fertilizing materials my crops must have. 



2. They show me in what quantities, in what forms, and in what 

 ways I should apply different fertilizers. 



3. They save me money by enabling me to buy what I want 

 without using a large quantity of materials I do not want. 



4. I think I shall thus be enabled to raise all kinds of crops on 

 very poor land with profit." 



One of Mr. Fairchild's remarks impressed me greatly. It was 

 this : 



"Under the old system of farming, it is no wonder the boys 

 leave the farms. You can't blame them. I did so m^'self, came 

 back, tried again, and should have given up once more if it had 

 not been for these experiments, and what 1 have learned in con- 

 nection with them. As it is, I find myself giving up outside 



