FERTILIZERS. 15 



sted, Eng., when he raised wheat for twenty years in 

 succession, depending wholly on chemical fertilizers, the 

 same amount each year, with the results, that, where the 

 first ten years the average was twenty-nine bushels per 

 acre, the second ten the average was forty-one bushels 

 per acre, ought forever to settle the " stimulant and medi- 

 cine " theory. Professor Atwater says, further, " That a 

 great deal of successful farm experience goes to show that 

 artificial fertilizers may take the place of farm manures, 

 there is no question. The experience and experimenting 

 that bear on this point are of too great accuracy, too long 

 continuance, and too large amount, to be ignored, and the 

 results too decisive to be derided. Nor is there in the 

 results of the best scientific investigators any thing antago- 

 nistic to the doctrine." 



To. sum the matter up, the arguments for the use of fer- 

 tilizers are, (1) As a rule, they cost considerably less to 

 produce the same crop results. (2) They are much more 

 cheaply transported; and, containing the fertilizing ele- 

 ments in so condensed a form, the whole handling of them 

 is much cheaper. (3) They enable the farmer to cultivate 

 much larger areas. (4) They enable us to feed just the 

 proportion of each of the three elements the crop needs. 



(5) They ripen crops earlier, and so practically prolong 

 the season, making the raising of some varieties possible 

 when before their use they could not wisely be risked. 



(6) They improve the quality of potatoes and grain. (7) 

 They virtually bring outlying fields nearer to the farm. 

 (8) They have indirectly raised farmers to a higher intel- 

 lectual level by stimulating them to acquire more infor- 

 mation, and a clearer insight into the laws which govern 

 plant-growth. (9) They lessen our crop of weeds, as, 

 unlike barn manure, they carry with them no weed-seed 

 into the soil. 



