74 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. 



SO doing. Advantage must be taken of these things ; we liave put 

 before us in bulletins what we need for our plants atid animals as 

 well. Mr. Ware asked, his fellow-farmers and market garden- 

 ers whether they were willing to pay this extra profit to the 

 manufacturers. If they were they might do it ; he would not. 

 Mixtures are all humbug ; names are used to catch your eye ; if 

 one does not, another will. He approved, of the method presented ; 

 we must see where we can save anything and save it if we wish to 

 succeed. Mr. W'are concluded by calling on one of our fellow- 

 workers, Mr. Sullivan, of Revere, whom he saw in the audience. 

 Mr. Sullivan, after thanking Mr. Ware for the call, said : 

 Labor is the first great expense, but if we try to reduce the wages 

 of our laborers, and. thus reduce the cost of the produce, we com- 

 mence by making our own townspeople poorer ; they must live, 

 and their children must go to school. As it is now, they have a 

 hard time. Italian laborers are now getting plenty, and work for 

 very small wages, but is it desirable labor to hire ? We have 

 given them a fair test, and find that to a certain extent they can 

 be employed, as for weeding and the like, but if you do not have 

 an interpreter you cannot explain to them what you want done, 

 and a foreman is required to stand over them continually. They 

 are willing and good workers, but as they cannot understand the 

 English language we have come to the conclusion that we cannot 

 afford to reduce the wages of present laborers. Another point is 

 the cost of manure ; this has been well explained in the paper. 

 We are paying too much already. In the city of Chicago, and 

 some other large cities, manure is given to the gardeners by 

 the stable-keepers; the gardeners thus get it for the hauling, 

 which often amounts to $3 or f 4 per cord. This is a help. Mr. 

 Sullivan said, in regard to fertilizers, that he had used them in 

 all forms, and understood all about the manufacture of them and 

 the ingredients used. Taking the material in gross, there would, 

 without doubt, be a saving of fifty per cent, but mixing this 

 material is not general, and many have not the intelligence that 

 Mr. Ware has to put into the mixing. If the fertilizer dealers 

 would be satisfied with small profits, say $25 per ton for their fer- 

 tilizers, the farmers would be satisfied. Some fertilizers must be 

 used, but we are at present dissatisfied with what are now on the 

 market. The manufacturers will come down, and the sooner the 

 better. We are protected by the experiment stations, so that 



