146 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



large lumps, but most of these lumps have been so thor- 

 oughly steamed that you can powder them yourselves l>etween 

 your fingers. We run these lumps through a burr-stone mill, 

 and then mix the whole together. Now, by treating these 

 head-bones under that high pressure of steam, we have ac- 

 complished what we should, if we had treated them Avith 

 sulphuric acid, and, as I just said, we avoid the possibility of 

 harm by using too strong acid in connection with our fertil- 

 izers. 



I wish to refer once more to the Stassfurt potash salts. 

 Our venerable friend, the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, says 

 that he believes in ashes. Undoubtedly, ashes are the best 

 source of potash in the market. I believe every bushel of 

 ashes contains about five pounds of potash. That potash is 

 worth in the market to-day, at retail, ten cents a pound ; 

 therefore, every bushel of ashes is worth, for its potash alone, 

 fifty cents. So every farmer should save his ashes ; they are 

 immensely valuable ; they are worth more to him than they 

 are to the soa4)-manufacturer. But if you cannot get ashes, 

 as most farmers cannot, there are two grades of potash in 

 Boston to-day, one containing sixty per cent, of sulphate of 

 potash, which is being sold for two cents a pound. In every 

 one hundred pounds, you buy sixty pounds of potash, and 

 that brings your potash at three and one-third cents a pound ; 

 and you are buying a salt, the sulphate of potash, which is 

 one of the best for agricultural purposes. Therefore, if the 

 farmers of Massachusetts buy these Stassfurt salts, they are 

 getting at the cheapest and best source of potash known in 

 this country. 



Mr. Everett, of Princeton. I hope we have been able to 

 look an honest fertilizer manufacturer in the face for once, 

 and I am sure we shall all patronize him. I think I shall, for 

 one. I should like to know the gentleman's name. 



The Chairman. He represents the firm of Bowker & 

 Sparrow. 



Mr. Everett. A friend here says he wants to know the 

 price. 



Mr. BowKER. That is a very important matter. The 

 price has been fixed at the rate of $50 a ton, for less than 

 one ton ; $47.50 a ton, for less than five tons ; five tons, and 



