170 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nitrogen and potash should be greater than is found in the 

 established brands of mixed fertilizers now offered in the market. 



This desirable change can be secured, as I have already 

 indicated, by the purchase of chemicals to be mixed at home, or 

 by cooperating with some manufacturer in whom you have 

 ■confidence. Under right conditions either method may be success- 

 ful. It would be foolish to ignore the manufacturer, because the 

 wisdom of a division of labor holds good here as elsewhere. But 

 we should keep him in his place, which is to supply us with what 

 we wish to purchase, without even supposing that he can determine 

 our needs. These we must discover for ourselves, aided by the 

 investigations and results of others. There has been too much of 

 a feeling on the part of the agricultural public, that somehow or 

 other the manufacturer is able to discern the needs of farmers, 

 because of a higher range of knowledge to which he has access ; 

 that somehow or other the same knowledge enables him so to con- 

 jure with materials obtained from unusual sources that he is 

 bound to offer, if not the right thing, a very good thing, which 

 rises above the common everyday facts and means of agricultural 

 practice. 



The crop grower should never forget that the manufacturer is 

 studying commercial opportunities chiefly, and that he is first of 

 all a business man, and is rarely competent either from the 

 practical or scientific standpoint to guide in the practice of plant 

 feeding. His province is to study the markets and processes of 

 manufacture, and in these directions he must lead ; but in respect 

 to the use of plant food the farmer should lead, and the manufac- 

 turer should buy and manipulate to suit the demand that comes 

 up to him from the consumer. 



Commercial fertilizers, as they exist in the markets today, are a 

 €urious medley. In their composition the fact is recognized that 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, aijd potash, are the three constituents 

 of plant food, one or more of which is likely to be needed to 

 increase fertility ; but beyond this they fail in most instances to 

 embody any distinct principle or rule of practice. The so-called 

 special manures of different manufactures, designed for the same 

 crop, differ almost as widely as do the brands designed for general 

 use. Order will sometime come out of this chaos, but chiefly 

 through the efforts of those who use the various preparations of 

 plant food. This will not be done, however*, until trade names pass 



