writer has for years published in his annual reports a compilation of 

 the analyses of the farm and garden crops to serve as a guide to all 

 interested in a rational mode of manuring or feeding plants. Copies 

 of these compilations of analyses may be secured by asking for them 

 at the oflice of the Hatch Experiment Station at Amherst, Mass. 



The current market cost of the different brands of fertilizers 

 does not represent, their respective ogricvltural valve, i. e., their crop- 

 producing value. The general character of the soil, its mechanical 

 and chemical condition, as well as the special requirement of the crop 

 to be raised, have to be consulted, when choosing intelligently ferti- 

 lizers for home consumption. 



A judicious selection of fertilizers from among the various brands 

 offered for patronage, requires in the main, two kinds of information, 

 namely, we ought to feel confident that the brand of fertilizer in 

 question actually contains the guaranteed quantities and qualities of 

 essential articles of plant food at a reasonable cost ; and that it 

 contains them in such form and such proportions as will best meet 

 existing circumstances and special wants. In some cases it may be 

 only either phosphoric acid or nitrogen or potash ; in others, two of 

 them ; and in others again all three. A remunerative use of com- 

 mercial fertilizers can only be secured by attending carefully to these 

 considerations. 



Tlie practice of adding to the mamirial refufis materials of the farm 

 as stable manure, vegetable comjwst, etc., such single commercial 

 manuricd substances as ivill enrich them in the direction desirable for 

 any 2)a;rticular crop to be raised, does not yet receive thcU degree 

 of general attention^ — lohich it deserves. — An addition of potash 

 in the form of muriate or sulphate of potash, or of phosphoric 

 acid in the form of fine ground bones or of Florida phosphate, etc. 

 will in man}' instances not only improve their general fitness as 

 complete manure, — but quite frequently permit a material reduction 

 in the amount of barnyard manure ordinarily considered sufficient, to 

 secure satisfactory results. The average barnyard manuie contains 

 a larger percentage of nitrogen, as compared with its potash and 

 phosphoric acid than is generally considered economical. An addi- 

 tion of from fifty to one hundred pounds of muriate of potash or 

 of one to two hundred pounds of fine ground natural phosphates 

 (Florida or S. Carolina) or of both potasli and pliosphates per ton of 

 barnyard manure woidd greatly increase its claim as an ollicicnt and 

 economical general fertilizer. 



