INTRODUCTION. 25 



misrepresentations., and some even contain false 

 and garbled analyses intended, or at least 

 calculated to deceive, by giving combinations 

 of elements that are not found in their manures, 

 or, if found, in much less quantity than re- 

 presented. The arts of the charlatan are ex- 

 tensively practised to deceive and impose on 

 their customers. Many farmers are fully aware 

 of the fact that they need something to enable 

 them to raise good crops and renew their im- 

 poverished lands, and that in purchasing, they 

 are entirely at the mercy of these compounders 

 of manures. And if they pay a dollar for what 

 is worth only fifty cents, it is simply because 

 they cannot help themselves in getting the full 

 value of their money. 



The men who water milk, sand sugar, or sell 

 shoddy for broad cloth, are termed swindlers, 

 but the amount of their sales is comparatively 

 small ; and as we have ready means of detecting 

 such frauds, the sales of these unprincipled 

 dealers become beautifully less. 



Not so, however, with manufacturers of fertil- 

 izers ; from the appearance of the article detection 

 is difficult. Hence some of the manufacturers of 

 fertilizers count their profits by the hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars yearly ; and we shall prove 

 that their practices are equally, or more culpable 

 than those of the other party. When a manu- 



