STABLE MANURES AND CHEMICALS. 181 



anything, and do not know that I have anything to say. I 

 have never used commercial fertilizers, in any way. I have 

 been so situated that I have had an abundance of valuable 

 manure, and, so long as I have that, I probably shall not go 

 into the market to buy fertilizers. We get an abundance of 

 manure in Providence. We make a great deal of manure, 

 and buy a great deal. We buy manure there for $8 a cord, 

 and we get good crops where we put on an abundance of 

 manure. The farm which I cultivate is not a very large one. 

 There are some twenty-five acres, and, in one way and another, 

 I manage to sell twelve or thirteen thousand dollars' worth of 

 stuff from it every year, beside what we consume. 



Mr. Ball of Upton. I think the distinction between barn- 

 yard manure and fertilizers has been very clearly brought out 

 here. The question is not, Shall we discontinue the use of 

 barn-yard manure? It is, Can we use these fertilizers as 

 helps? There are many of us who cannot possibly make 

 manure enough, and these fertilizers come in as helps. It 

 seems to me that the experiments which have been made, 

 where they have been made with accuracy, will go very far 

 towards settling the important question of the value of chem- 

 ical fertilizers to the farmer, and, therefore, I have been 

 exceedingly interested in this discussion. We want to have 

 facts accurately presented. We want to be satisfied that the 

 experiments reported have been thoroughly and carefully 

 made. It makes a great deal of difference whether an experi- 

 ment is properly made or not ; whether you estimate a crop 

 or weigh it ; whether you know exactly what the cost is, and 

 exactly what the return is, in this matter of fertilizers. 



I only rose to say, that in the town where I live, — a small 

 town, — we have a good deal of interest, just now, in agricult- 

 ure, and, of course, we are interested in chemical manures, 

 from the fact that we do not have enough barn-yard manure. 

 We cannot make enough, and, therefore, this is a question 

 that we are particularly interested in, — whether we can supply 

 the want by the use of chemical fertilizers. If I had as good 

 an opportunity to make manure as some gentlemen have, I 

 do not think I should go into the market to buy fertilizers ; 

 and yet it seems to me that there are times when we may use 

 chemical fertilizers that will do our crops more good than 



