70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The sooner the farmer comes to see that in buying plant 

 food he is dealing with the same plain business facts that 

 pertain to nails, brick, lumber, flour or any other staple 

 commodity, the sooner will the fertilizer trade reach a sub- 

 stantial basis. 



(3) I am sure, too, my friends, that the time has come 

 to stop talking about corn fertilizers, potato fertilizers, 

 wheat fertilizers, onion fertilizers and the like. The belief 

 in such distinctions as now used in the trade is becoming 

 obsolete. These names carry with them the inference that 

 some person of great wisdom is preparing specifics for 

 certain crops, both economical and efficient under all con- 

 ditions. No greater fallacy than this was ever believed 

 in. Even if these special mixtures corresponded to the 

 actual needs of the crops, — and they certainly do not, 

 — there is still to be considered the greatly unlike con- 

 ditions prevailing on different farms, rendering a universal 

 recipe illogical and wasteful. The forcing-house man may 

 properly combine plant food in the proportions found in 

 his tomato or lettuce crop, the tobacco grower may wisely 

 exclude all chlorides from his artificial manures, the sugar- 

 beet grower may find it necessar^^ to avoid over-stimulation 

 of the growing plants with nitrogen, but the only special 

 for the individual farmer is the one that corresponds to his 

 special needs. 



(4) But right here I am met with the old question, — a 

 difficult one, too, — " Can the farmer learn what his special 

 needs are ? " And this leads us to another division of our 

 subject, viz., the farm side of buying plant food. 



As we enter upon the discussion of this point, some one 

 steps forward with his time-worn arguments, " Farmers 

 don't know enough to determine their needs, and therefore 

 we must put in their hands something that will be sure to 

 cover all possible deficiencies, even if some do pay for un- 

 necessary materials." Is this a fair argument? Are not a 

 few farmers dictating their own mixtures of plant food, on 

 the basis of careful study of their resources and intelligent 

 experimenting to discover their needs ? Shall we tell these 

 men to stop doing this, because others do not, or shall we 

 advise the others to do likewise? If only one person out 



