Food for T ne va l ue O f these "phosphates," no matter how high 

 8 sounding their names, is usually mostly in phosphoric acid 



16 and potash. 



The Nitrogen contained n these "complete fertilizers" 

 is often in a form that is neither available nor useful to the 

 plants until it has become converted into Nitrate. The time 

 required to do this varies from a few days to a few years, 

 according to the temperature of the soil and the kind and con- 

 dition of the material used. 



Statistics gathered by the Experiment Stations show that 

 many millions of dollars are spent annually in the United 

 States for "complete fertilizers." Considering that the aver- 

 age "complete fertilizer" costs 25 per cent, more than it is 

 worth, it is evident that farmers pay immensely more for 

 their fertilizers than they get value in return. And this state 

 of things is the same all over the country. The farmers of 

 this country are paying out many millions of dollars annually 

 to the manufacturers of "complete fertilizers," which they 

 could very easily save by the exercise of a little care and fore- 

 sight. 



Would you not think a man very unwise 

 How to Save who should buy some body's "Complete 

 Money o Prepared Food," at a high price, when he 



Fertilizers. wanted feed for his horses, instead of going 



into the market and buying corn, oats and hay, at market 

 prices? 



The "Complete Prepared Food" would probably be 

 composed of corn, oats and hay mixed together, and the 

 price would be, perhaps, twice as much as the corn, oats and 

 hay would cost separately. It is the same with plant food. 

 It is always more economical to buy 

 Fhat Fertilizers tne different fertilizing materials and mix 

 to buy. tnem at h ome tnan to p urc hase "complete" 



fertilizers as they are often called. Some do not wish to take 

 pains to get good materials and mix them, and prefer to pur- 

 chase the "complete" fertilizers. If this be done, special 

 attention should be given to ascertaining In what form the 

 Nitrogen exists. Many of the manufacturers do not 

 tell this, but the Experiment Stations analyze all the 

 fertilizers sold in their respective States and publish the re- 

 sults in bulletins, which are sent free to anyone asking for 

 them. These analyses should show in what form the Nitro- 



