146 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



Complete Fertilizers. — In the United States the habit of pur- 

 chasing everything " ready made" prevails to an unusual 

 extent, and fertilizer manufacturers mostly cater to this demand 

 by supplying "complete fertilizers," compounded in accordance 

 with the known re(iuirements for certain crops, therefore on the 

 supposition thai the soil supplies nothing of itself. In purchasing 

 these complete fertilizers the farmer is, therefore, likely to pay 

 for one or perhaps two ingredients which the soil may not 

 require at all to produce the most profitable crops, when his 

 money would be probably much better spent in procuring a 

 larger amount of one substance specially needed. The enor- 

 mous waste of money thus incurred is now so well recognized 

 in Europe that the manufacture and sale of mixed fertilizers 

 has been almost completely superseded by that of the simples 

 themselves. A farmer buys superphosphate, potash salts, 

 or nitrogenous fertilizers separately, in accordance with a 

 rational understanding of the requirements of his land, more 

 particularly with reference to the nature of the preceding 

 crop, the amount and the kind of draft made on the land, and 

 the character of the latter. 



That this is the only rational and economical mode of using 

 commercial fertilizers is indisputable; it is only in the case of 

 stable manure itself that the farmer is compelled to use all the 

 ingredients indiscriminately. The farmer who, either from 

 lack of knowledge or from inertness, spends his money for "com- 

 plete" fertilizers, a part of which he may not need at all, need 

 not lie surprised if tlie increase of crop resulting from their 

 application does not yield adequate returns for the outlay 

 incurred. The fertilizer manufacturer naturally desires to sell 

 his wares and is not specially interested in reducing the farmer's 

 expenditures therefor. 



California Soils.— As regards the soils of this State, experience 

 has shown that an unusually large proportion of them remain 

 profitably productive without fertilization for a considerable 

 length of time, and that when virgin soils, or such as have been 

 under cultivation for a short series of years only, fail to pro- 

 duce satisfactory crops, it is usually due to other defects than 

 lack of fertility, requiring to be supplemented by fertilization. 

 Even in the East it takes from seven to thirty years to reduce 

 the production of "fresh" soils below profitableness, and the 

 nature of the crops grown being known, it is not difficult to 



