74 FERTILIZERS. 



were applied to an acre, the chemist might not be able to 

 detect its presence. 



A FAITH THAT IS DANGEROUS. BUYING CHEAP FERTIL- 

 IZERS. 



There is a class of farmers who have a degree of faith 

 in fertilizers, but regard them as a sort of " hodge-podge " 

 combination of various ingredients sold as making things 

 grow, which sometimes hit it, and at other times miss it, 

 either because the maker missed his guess, or because he 

 deliberately intended to cheat his customers. Believing, 

 therefore, that one fertilizer is just about as likely to be as 

 good as another, they very naturally buy the cheapest in 

 the market, regarding the whole business as a mere lot- 

 tery. The want of knowledge that lies back of this 

 view of fertilizers reminds me of the doings of one of my 

 foremen some years ago. I sent him various materials for 

 a compost heap, and also a lot of unleached ashes, guano, 

 and hen-dung, with particular directions what to mix, and 

 which of the various materials to keep separate. When I 

 came, a while after, to view the state of affairs, I asked to 

 see his manure piles. He showed me his compost heap. 

 I then asked for the ashes, hen manure, and guano. " It's 

 all there, boss," said he, pointing to the compost heap ; 

 " and, I tell you, it's the greatest manure heap you ever 

 saw." I thought so, too : hen manure, guano, unleached 

 ashes, glue-waste, rotten sea manure, tumbled together 

 pellmell, and the free ammonia generated filling the air 

 with its pungent fumes! I had it covered at once with 

 dry muck, and then endeavored to enlighten him on the 

 difference between a " hodge-podge " of material, and a 

 compost heap intelligently put together. 



I was told of an instance where last season a market 

 gardener, a man of superior ability in some departments 



