166 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



desirable are dried blood, dried meat, taukage (consisting of 

 meat and bone), dried fish, cotton seed meal, and castor pomace. 

 I am not ready to place hoof and horn meal in the afore mentioned 

 list, neither shall I include it with certain kinds of tankage, wool 

 waste, hair waste, and leather, which are inferior and should be 

 regarded as frauds in any fertilizer that is put forward for one of 

 good quality. 



But you ask. Are these inferior ammouiates, these frauds, 

 actually used in the manufacture of fertilizers? There is credible 

 evidence that they are. Some one now inquires. Are they found 

 ill the fertilizers which I buy? That depends. Unquestionably 

 they are bought by somebody, otherwise they would not be 

 manufactured, but whether you buy them or not I am not able to 

 say. Unfortunately if you were to put a sample of the fertilizer 

 you have purchased into the hands of the chemist, he could not 

 answer your question with any degree of certainty. 



Doubtless these statements will be regarded as a serious indict- 

 ment of the fertilizer trade. I do not mean to imply, however, 

 that all brands of fertilizer contain these inferior materials, or to 

 disguise the fact that a vast amount of the best of organic 

 material is mixed into the various brands of superphosphates. T 

 do mean to call attention, though, to the possibilities of purchas- 

 ing nitrogen unfit for the uses of the horticulturist who is seeking 

 rapid growth and quick returns. Whatever may be said of grass 

 and grain farming, the forcing house and market garden are no 

 place for compounds so inert that they must undergo a long 

 process of "weathering" before becoming useful, and whose 

 purchase in the place of better materials may cause the partial 

 loss of a season's opportunity. The producer of fine vegetables 

 for the city market needs his plant food in forms easily available 

 at once, especially that part of it which he purchases as a supple- 

 ment to stable manure in order to secure the earliest possible 

 growth. 



It is very easy for us to perceive, in the light of these facts, 

 that it is very important, for the horticulturist especiall}', to adopt 

 such methods of dealing as shall insure the purchase of the right 

 kind of plant food. What shall these methods be? While affirm- 

 ing that the advertised brands of fertilizers furnish, in a certain 

 percentage of cases, which may be greater or less, plant food of 

 the very best quality, I will offer for your consideration two 



