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new information was obtained, and but few useful facts were- 

 deducible. In fact, what can be learned from the experiment 

 of seeking, in the market, a mixture called " Croasdale super- 

 phosphate," or " Baugh's raw bones," or any other "raw 

 bone" compounds, and applying them to a few rows in a corn 

 field or potato patch ? In the first place, who knows what the 

 raw bone mixtures, or " superphosphates," are made of? Cer- 

 tainly, the experimenter does not. It is apparent, then, that 

 the experiments must be empirical, inasmuch as the substances 

 experimented with are of unknown fertilizing value. The 

 " phosphates, " or bone mixtures usually possess no uniformity 

 in composition. One farmer may be lucky enough to secure a 

 barrel or two of the substances in which a considerable amount 

 of plant nutriment is found ; another may purchase packages 

 of the same brand, which are almost wholly destitute of the 

 phosphatic or nitrogeneous elements, and are therefore practical- 

 ly valueless. These, employed in the usual empirical way,, of 

 course give varying results, — results which are better calculat- 

 ed to confuse and perplex, than to instruct. 



But if the fertilizers we employ are honest mixtures, and 

 have a fixed value, how much positive practical information 

 can we gain, from applying them in a small way, in our fields, 

 without taking into account some important considerations 

 which are usually overlooked ? It is true, if we thrust the 

 " raw bone " into the hills of one row of potatoes, and leave 

 the next one without the mixture, we can measure and weigh 

 at harvest time, and thus obtain results from M'hich to form 

 wise conclusions, or dogmatic opinions. These results, how- 

 ever, must be regarded as blind guides. Any experiments in 

 husbandry which do not extend over a period of time exceed- 

 ing one or two seasons, and which do not take into account vaj 

 riations in soils and meteorological conditions, are practically 

 worthless. It appears to your Committee, high time that the 

 intelligent farmers of Essex abandoned the " irregular," uncer- 

 tain, empirical methods of experimenting with fertilizers, and 

 adopted a form better calculated to advance true knowledge in 



