SPECIAL FERTILIZERS. 31 



the "special" fertilizer, and the difference being so marked as to 

 appear like separate sowings. 



A. In several experiments that I have carefully made, with a view 

 to ascertain if there was any foundation for the claims now so 

 commonly made for special fertilizers, in no single instance have I 

 found any verification of these claims. For example, I have tried 

 them on potatoes, corn, rye, barley, mangels and turnips, applying a 

 special kind of manure on each, at the same time using one of the 

 specials on all the crops with the same results as obtained from each 

 of the different specials. I have no doubt that had I mixed them all 

 together, and applied the mixture to each special crop, the results 

 would in all probability have been the same. The only difference is 

 that we pay two or three dollars per ton more when we get the 

 special name. These special fertilizers for special crops may do very 

 well for gentlemen farmers, who can afford to play at the business; 

 but we, who have to make our bread and butter from the soil, had 

 better let them alone. One of the best fertilizers, compared with its 

 cost, I have ever tried, was sent me last season under the name of 

 " rotten bone," price $16 per ton. I was solicited to try it by a gentle- 

 man who was placing this article on the market and who made 

 very strong claims for it. I wrote him, saying that if his manure was 

 what he stated it to be, he might send me two or three tons. He sent me 

 three tons, which I applied, and the results, as I write (July 10th), 

 on mangels, potatoes, turnips and fodder corn, seem to indicate that it 

 was a more valuable fertilizer than any that I have yet used. It was 

 put on broadcast, and harrowed in thoroughly with the Acme harrow, 

 at the rate of 1,500 pounds per acre, which at $16 per ton you will 

 see was an exceedingly cheap fertilizer. Whether it will hold out for 

 the following season I cannot tell, but will give it a further trial. 



Q. Into what shape was it broken up? 



A. It came in pieces about the size of peas, and contained a kind of 

 greasy substance that, when taking it in your hand, would leave a 

 mark. 



Q. Is that article in commerce, or was it only by a special chance 

 that you got it? 



A. I think it is in commerce, as I had recently a letter from the 

 party from whom I got it asking how it had turned out, as he had 

 more to dispose of. I do not know whether it is a part of the refuse 

 from glue factories or not, but I have reason to believe that it is. 



(Mr. H.) You are correct in this, as I had a sample of a similar 

 substance, although it came to me without name from some glue 

 manufactory in Massachusetts. I gave it a thorough trial on grass 

 as a top dressing about the first of June. I examined the result 



