DIFFERENCE IN STABLE MANURES. 199 



In view of what we know of the nature of commercial fer- 

 tilizing agents, is it necessary to inquire why so small an 

 amount of benefit is received from the application to our lands 

 of these substances ? When a farmer purchases and employs, 

 in connection with his crops, fertilizers of unknown value, pray 

 tell me of what value are his experiments to himself or anybody 

 else ? If he fails of satisfactory results, upon what or upon 

 whom can he lay the blame ? If he secures a successful crop, 

 does he know whether it is due to the fertilizer or to a favorable 

 season, or good culture, or some other agency ? He certainly 

 can form no satisfactory opinion upon the subject. 



How can this evil be met and overcome ? Legislation has 

 thus far failed to afford a remedy, and I must confess that it is 

 extremely difficult to circumvent human selfishness and inge- 

 nuity by statute laws. There are only two ways: one is to have 

 all fertilizing agents of home production, of domestic manufac- 

 ture ; the other is, to form associations among farmers, establish 

 factories and prepare the agents for use only among those who 

 are interested in their production. The motive of gain must 

 be taken away or removed in some way, before the valuable 

 plant stimulants will come into our hands in a condition so that 

 they can be employed with confidence and success. 



I think we must admit that stable dung is sold upon an im- 

 proper or wrong basis. So far as I have learned by observation 

 and inquiry, the price is fixed upon bulk and little or no refer- 

 ence is had to quality. Now, we know that the stable manure 

 from one celler or vault may be, and often is, worth double that 

 taken from another. A man who feeds his horse or other 

 animals upon run hay, and is stinting in the use of grain, sup- 

 plies to the purchaser or user a very poor article of excrement ; 

 and in livery stables the straw and litter serve to give great 

 bulk, but little weight or substance, to the product of the yard 

 or vault. I have ascertained by experiment that excremen- 

 titious manures, as produced at my farm, held of fertilizing 

 substances nearly two and a half times as much in the cord as 

 was found in those obtained from stable vaults in the city. The 

 manure from my cellars is worth" fifteen dollars the cord, when 

 light, fine, stable manures bring six dollars. 



It is of the highest consequence in successful farming that 

 the actual quality of fertilizing agents be considered rather than 



