282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In consideration of the frauds practised, it may prove ser- 

 viceable to give in detail some of the " tricks " resorted to in 

 order with more facility to palm the contemptible conglomera- 

 tions of ground oyster-shells, sand, hard coal and other cheap 

 and wortliless articles, with which barely enough of valuable 

 ingredients have been mixed for flavoring. One of the indica- 

 tions that cheating is being resorted to is the extensive adver- 

 tising, together with a peculiar turn at " blowing," practised by 

 those in the trade who depend upon an annual crop of custom- 

 ers in order to keep their business running. This matter of 

 obtaining customers is well understood by those sharpers, for be 

 it known that not half the cultivators ever have purchased con- 

 centrated manures, and that new ones are induced to try their 

 " luck " at it every year. Thus he who can " blow " most 

 stands a good chance to catch the most gudgeons. 



Another " grab " is to send a bag or barrel of a pure and val- 

 uable article — it may be of poudrette, flour of bone or other 

 concentrated manure — to some prominent man, whose name 

 will have influence, for his trial. The result proves in an emi- 

 nent degree satisfactory, and the prominent gentleman, having 

 received his five or eight dollars' worth as a gift, can do no less, 

 of course, than speak and write commendatory of a manure 

 which has produced such remarkable results. We apprehend 

 that comparatively few of the farmers are aware, even approx- 

 imately, of the number of certificates which are procured in 

 that way, and in which those patent soil nostrums are lauded to 

 the skies. Before our beard began to bleach we saw the certifi- 

 cates of the late A. J. Downing and the late Daniel Webster, in 

 which the poudrette, manufactured by the Lodi Company, was 

 highly extolled on account of its fertilizing properties. Both 

 those gentlemen undoubtedly received a good article, and the 

 results being satisfactory, could do no less than recommend a 

 fertilizer of such extraordinary merit. Had Downing or Web- 

 ster suspected what would follow, viz., that their names were to 

 be used to aid in palming upon a credulous public a base coin, 

 in the form of peat alone, at $1.50 per barrel, expenses added, 

 their signatures would have been withheld. At the time 

 alluded to, the Lodi Company proposed to sell seven barrels of 

 poudrette for $10.60. We sent $10.50, received the seven bar- 

 rels, used as per directions, tried, in various places and on dif- 



