CHAPTER X. 



COMMERCIAL AND SPECIAL FERTILIZERS. 



IN preparing and enriching the soil, and especially in subsequent cultiva- 

 tion, concentrated fertilizers are very useful and often essential. In 

 dealing with this subject, however, I think we tread upon uncertain 

 ground. There is a great deal of apparent accuracy of figures and 

 analyses carried carefully into decimals, but a wonderful deal of vagueness, 

 uncertainty and contradiction in the experiences and minds of cultivators. 

 It is well known that many commercial fertilizers are scandalously 

 adulterated, and those who have suffered from frauds are hostile to the 

 entire class. In their strong prejudice, they will neither discriminate nor 

 investigate. There are others who associate everything having a chemical 

 sound with " book farming," and therefore dismiss the whole subject with 

 a sniff of contempt. This clique of horticulturists is rapidly diminishing, 

 however, for the fruit grower who does not read is like the lawyer who 

 tries to practice with barely a knowledge of the few laws revealed by a 

 limited experience. In contrast, there are others who read and theorize 

 too exclusively, and are inclined to assert that concentrated fertilizers 

 supersede all others. They scout the muck swamp, the compost heap, 

 and even the barn-yard, as old-fashioned, cumbrous methods of bringing 

 to the soil, in tons of useless matter, the essentials which they can deliver in 

 a few sacks or barrels. On paper, they are scientific and accurate. The 

 crop you wish to raise has constituents in certain proportions. Supply 

 these, they say, and you have the chemical compound or crop. A field 



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