172 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Special attention is called to mixture No. 2, which, owing ta- 

 the low price of cotton-seed meal, would furnish plant food more 

 cheaply than either of the other combinations. 



It is very easy to see that by varying the quantities of 

 chemicals the mixture may be made to contain more of one 

 ingredient and less of others. 



Just here the question will arise, — "How shall I know what 

 combination to use?" Only by observation and study. You 

 should not adopt the successful rule of practice of some other 

 man unless your conditions are entirely similar to his. And the 

 only method admitting of intelligent and reliable observation is 

 when fertilizing materials are applied with a full understanding of 

 what they contain, so that it is possible to trace cause and effect. 

 If you purchase these ingredients separately, you are then able to 

 apply them singly, or combined in different forms and in different 

 proportions. In this way you may attain a degree of knowledge 

 applicable to your own business that will never be possible if 

 you continue to buy the fixed formulas of the markets. This 

 may be a hard doctrine, but it is nevertheless the means of 

 salvation. 



The agricultural public should study carefully the results of 

 experiment station investigations, for in this way much will be 

 learned, which, as general principles, will be important to every 

 man's practice. But never will experiment stations relieve the 

 individual of the necessity of making a close study of the needs 

 and methods of his own environment. 



Principles, the practitioner may be taught by others, — the right 

 relation of the principles to his own business he must, in part at 

 least, discover for himself, and in no field is there a larger 

 opportunity for this than in the purchase and use of commercial 

 fertilizers. 



Discussion. 



A gentleman remarked that some persons not familiar with 

 plant culture regard all commercial fertilizers as similar in 

 character to alcohol, — as only stimulants. But the truth is they 

 are really plant food — as positively so as any stable manure^ 

 This has been proved by many careful experiments, including 

 those by sand culture and water culture. As no healthy child 

 could be reared on alcohol, so no plant life can be long sustained 

 without being supplied with plant food. 



