PROFITABLE FARMING. 27 



Again, in practically all of these crudely made 

 farm mixtures a certain amount of chemical 

 action is set up, hence the prescription usually 

 states that the mixture must be " applied im- 

 mediately/' or certain ingredients " must not be 

 mixed/' In chemically compounded, factory- 

 made fertilisers all this chemical reaction has 

 taken place long before they are sent out. There 

 is no question that even if there is any money 

 saved in mixing fertilisers on the farm, which is 

 more than doubtful, more money is lost by the 

 inferior or smaller crop which results from the 

 use of these imperfectly mixed, badly condi- 

 tioned preparations. 



It is just about as reasonable for a farmer to 

 think that he can make an equally effective and 

 cheaper mixture from the coarse ingredients by 

 hand as efficiently as can be done by the manu- 

 facturer with the elaborate machinery and all 

 the facilities at his disposal, as for him to believe 

 that he can grind the wheat he produces into 

 flour cheaper and better than the miller with his 

 up-to-date machinery. 



There is no difficulty in these days about 

 farmers obtaining far more satisfactorily mixed 

 complete fertilisers, prepared from high-class 

 suitable materials, from any of the well-known 

 large manufacturers, at as low, and even lower, 

 prices than they could properly mix fertilisers of 

 similar quality themselves. 



