158 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



medicine ; and our well-known Tapioca is prepared from the roots 

 or tubers of the Cassava plant (Jatrojiha manihot) although the 

 sap of the plant contains hydrocyanic acid. But in the prepara- 

 tion of tapioca, the heat employed expels the poisonous element. 

 It is a curious fact, that, in Russia, the above mentioned poison 

 hemlock, is eaten with impunity by sheep and goats. 



MEETING FOR LECTURE AND DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, March 30, 1895. 



A Meeting for Lecture and Discussion was holden at eleven 

 o'clock, the President, Nathaniel T. Kidder, in the chair. 



Commercial Fertilizers in Horticulture. 



By Professor W. H. Jokdan, Director of the Maine State College Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



Statistics tell us that in 1892 the farmers of the United States:^ 

 purchased 1,500,000 tons of commercial fertilizers at a total cost 

 of $53,000,000. It goes without saying then, that my subject 

 today is an important one. It is also a difficult one. I am often 

 moved to declare, at those times when my thought is concentrated 

 upon its complexities and ramifications, that it is, all things 

 considered, the most unsatisfactory of themes for discussion 

 before a body of practical men. 



A very large percentage of the inquiries that come to me as a 

 Station Director, pertain to commercial fertilizers, and to some of 

 ■these questions I can give immediate and definite replies. But 

 when some farmer interrogates me after this fashion: "What is 

 the best commercial fertilizer sold in the state?" or " What fertili- 

 zer should I purchase to use in growing potatoes?" or "Do yon 

 regard John Doe's Potato Fertilizer as preferable to James Roe's 

 Potato Manure?" both my regard for the ofttimes sensitive 

 feelings of the fertilizer manufacturer, and my pride in my 

 reputation as one who would like to be called a sound adviser, 

 lead me to return evasive or very general replies. Definite and 

 unmodified replies would be injurious both to my reputation and 

 to the best welfare of the inquirer. Before you today, then, you 

 may expect me to treat this subject in a somewhat general 

 njannev. 



