226 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



When are you going to write that Vol. Ill — "How Crops 

 should be fed." The subject of manures is among the most 

 misty in the farmers' minds, and I wish you would save me 

 the trouble of writing it up myself ! Yours sincerely, 



E. W. Hilgard. 



(S. W. J. TO Sec. N. Y. State Ag. Soc.) 



Feb. 14, 1883. 



Mj^ dear Sir: — The N. J. Station and the State Inspector 

 of Fertilizers of Mass. joined with this Station last year in 

 adopting a scale of prices. Our meeting was held in Jan. and 

 we could not of course predict the very considerable fall in 

 price of nitrogen that was to occur, but, as stated on p. 23 of 

 report for 1882, we keep the values fixed throughout the year 

 for the sake of comparing the different fertilizers. The aver- 

 age retail prices during the year for nitrogen were — in nitrates 

 3 cts, for organic nitrogen 2 cts, and for sol. phos. acid 1 ct, 

 per lb. less than our estimated prices. Most of the material 

 bought by farmers in the spring of 1882 was already manu- 

 factured or the stock thereof laid in during the fall or winter 

 before, and the decline was slow in affecting the retail market. 



There will always be plenty of small reasons against fixing 

 an estimated price upon fertilizers, but there will always [he] 

 a preponderance of large reasons why it should be done in 

 the interests of consumers. Yours very truly, 



S. W. Johnson. 



(S. W. J. TO G. H. C.) 



Feb. 16, 1883. 



My dear Sir, — Yours in relation to meeting to decide upon 

 fertilizer prices is at hand. It was in my mind to confer with 

 you on the matter about these days. I have been rather 

 desirous to place the time as late as will do for two reasons: 

 1, that we may get as near the state of the spring markets 

 as possible so as not to find our reckoning ' ' left " by a change 

 in the markets. 2, in order to have the Station as far ad- 



