may be sent to the State Experiment Station for analysis. Food for 

 The detection of error or fraud is more certain and much Plants 

 easier in unmixed raw materials than in mixed fertilizers. a 5 

 Another important advantage of home-mixing is the opportu- 

 nity afforded the intelligent farmer to adapt the composition 

 of a fertilizer to the special soil requirements of his land and 

 to the wants of the crop to be grown. And, lastly, home mix- 

 tures have, as a rule, proved to be much cheaper than ready- 

 made fertilizers. However, the economy of home-mixing 

 should in every instance be determined by actual calculation. 



Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, as we have al- 

 ready seen, are necessary for the complete development of 

 farm crops, and are the constituents most likely to be deficient 

 in cultivated soils;, different crops have different capacities 

 for consuming these plant foods, so that when no increase 

 in crop production follows a rational application of one, 

 two, or all three of these constituents the soil evidently con- 

 tains them in sufficient stores to develop crops to limitations 

 fixed by season and existing climatic conditions. By a care- 

 ful study of the capacities of different crops for using Nitro- 

 gen, phosphoric acid, and potash, we may, within reasonable 

 limits, approximate the quantities, which, under average 

 conditions of crop, soil, and season, should be restored to the 

 land to balance the consumption of growing crops. 



In using fertilizers, or in special crop feeding, it should 

 be borne in mind that lands in a high state of cultivation 

 generally respond to heavy fertilization with much greater 

 immediate profit than those of ordinary fertility. 



Home-Mixing. 



The following formulas, together with the analyses and 

 valuations, are taken from the Twelfth Annual Report of the 

 New Jersey State Agricultural Experiment Stations. 



They prove most conclusively that farmers can make 

 even mixtures of raw materials which in mechanical condi- 

 tion compare favorably with the best manufactured brands 

 of complete fertilizers, and that the cost of mixing by the 

 manufacturers may be saved without increasing the cost of 

 farm labor. 



The results also show that in this particular instance 

 there was a total difference of thirty-one per cent, in cost in 

 favor of home-made mixtures. 



