QQ BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



that we have applied to American soil durinii; the last ten 

 years plant food mixtures containing more than twice as 

 much phosphoric acid as of either nitrogen or potash may 

 be due in part to the immense supply of phosphatic depos- 

 its lying at our very door, in the handling of which there 

 has been great opportunity for money making, and which 

 have been pushed upon the market with great persistence 

 and ingenuity. An investigation made during the past 

 season by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station 

 showed that when Long Island farmers used one ton of fer- 

 tilizer to the acre, they used six times the phosphoric acid 

 that the two succeeding crops removed, and that half as 

 much of this ingredient was as efficient. It is a serious 

 question whether the compounds of phosphoric acid have 

 not been applied to our farms in excess. It is also possible 

 that the great increase in the use of potash salts has not 

 been caused wholly by a recognized need of more potash, 

 but is to some extent due to the tireless efforts of the Ger- 

 man potash syndicate to convince everybody that potash 

 is an essential constituent of plants. 



All that I have been saying on this point may l)e reduced 

 to this single statement : the composition of the great bulk 

 of the fertilizers sold in the country is dictated by the 

 manufacturer, and not by the consumer. This is a reversal 

 of the natural order. Can we attain to better things? 

 Manufacturers are certainly not competent to guide the 

 farmer in this important matter ; for, notwithstanding their 

 good intentions as business men, they as a rule, are not in 

 a position, either by study or ]>y other means of observa- 

 tion, to solve the difficult problems involved in the matter 

 we are discussing. Is the farmer doing his best to aid the 

 manufacturer in adopting a more rational basis for trade ? 

 Is the farmer doing his best for himself ? To these ques- 

 tions I shall address myself later. 



I suspect two comments have already been made in the 

 minds of my hearers. The fertilizer manufacturer, if he is 

 present, has said to himself, " This is the same old story. 

 Experiment station workers, who cannot know the manu- 

 facturer's side as we do, are always attacking us, declaring 

 that our goods are below the proper grade, and are sold at 



