200 AMERICAN MANURES. 



BERGER & BUTZ'S EXCELSIOR SUPER 

 PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



The above fertilizer, from which samples for 

 analyses were selected, was purchased at the 

 manufacturers' office, Philadelphia. It is put up 

 in bags marked 200 Ibs. ; the bag purchased 

 weighed 201 Ibs. Its mechanical condition was 

 bad, the mineral phosphate from which it is 

 made had seemingly been ground fine, but the 

 finished product had dried in hard lumps in the 

 bag, which would be a great inconvenience to 

 the farmer if he wished to apply it with a drill. 

 It is strange that these manufacturers do not see 

 the importance of reducing their fertilizers to a 

 powder, before sending them to the farmer, who 

 naturally expects it fully prepared to apply to 

 the soil, either by drilling or by hand. When 

 the farmer has to reduce these lumps to a pow- 

 der, he is doing the work of the manufacturers 

 for which he' pays, and which could be done by 

 them at far less cost. 



Messrs. Berger & Butz issue a very modest 

 circular. They give no analysis of their fertilizer, 

 which every manufacturer should do, as it alone 

 is the only guarantee of its quality. The amount 

 of soluble phosphoric acid and nitrogen it con- 

 tains, is far more than in some other fertilizers 

 that are more strongly recommended. 



