1898.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 109 



remain economical to continue the practice after a repeated 

 application of a liberal amount of potash, without some 

 special reason. 



To restore to the soil those essential manurial constitu- 

 ents which the crops carry off is a safe rule to follow in the 

 effort to secure the maintenance of the fertility of the soil ; 

 yet to obtain this result in the most economical way will 

 always remain the ultimate aim of farming as a business 

 enterprise. 



A judicious management of the trade in commercial fertil- 

 izers implies a due recognition of results well established by 

 experiment, regarding the requirements of a remunerative 

 production of farm and garden crops ; yet, as the manufact- 

 urer at best can only prepare the composition of his special 

 fertilizers on general lines, not knowing the particular con- 

 dition and character of the soil which ultimately receives 

 them, it becomes of the utmost importance on the part of the 

 farmer to make himself acquainted with his special wants of 

 manurial substances, and to thus qualify himself for a more 

 judicious selection from the various fertilizers offered for 

 purchase. 



The present condition of the trade in commercial fertil- 

 izers offers exceptional advantages to provide efficient 

 manures for the raising of farm and garden crops of every 

 description congenial to soil and climate. The various es- 

 sential articles of plant food, as potash, phosphoric acid and 

 nitrogen compounds, are freely offered for sale in forms 

 suitable to render, by their addition, the different kinds of 

 manurial refuse matter of the farm in a higher degree fit 

 to meet the special wants of the crops to be raised. 



As the physical conditions and chemical resources of soils 

 on available plant food frequently differ widely even on the 

 same farm, no definite rule can be given for manuring farm 

 lands, beyond the advice to return to the soil in available form 

 those plant constituents which the crops raised during the pre- 

 ceding years have abstracted in exceptionally large proportion, 

 and which will be especially called for by the crops to be 

 raised. 



An intelligent selection of fertilizers from among the va- 

 rious brands ofl'ered for sale requires, in the main, two kinds 



