Fbetilizees. 15 



to say I am writing this book in the interest <oi truck 

 growers and propose to give my experience and ideas on 

 this. Heady mixed goods are sold everywhere on time 

 and agricultural chemicals are strictly cash. The reason 

 for this should be obvious to every thinking mind. The 

 fact is, that on mixed goods the profit is large and on un- 

 mixed it is small. Mixing can be done with a hoe for 

 fifty cents per ton and you know what you have when it is 

 mixed. Besides you are saving five to ten dollars per ton 

 by doing your own mixing. You are buying a pig in the 

 bag when you buy a ton of mixed fertilizer ; there is not 

 living the chemist who can tell you what you are buying. 

 The fertilizer manufacturer does not tell you what you are 

 buying; he says "made from dried blood, tankage, nitrate 

 of soda, ground bone and sulphate of potash." He does 

 not say how much of each ingredient is used in the mix- 

 tures. It matters not whether the home mixtures fit the 

 formula exactly and while it may not be quite so exact as 

 the machine mixed good's you will surely get the results 

 provided the ingredients are purchased of a reliable 

 dealer. Besides you have the privilege of having analysis 

 made free of charge in most States ; every gardener should 

 avail himself of this privilege. In all mixture some or- 

 ganic matter should be used, be the quantity ever so 

 small: either blood, blood and bone, ground fish, cotton- 

 seed meal, or linseed-meal. This is for the purpose of 

 supplying to the soil micro-organisms, which will facili- 

 tate nitrification. The kind of organic material to be 

 used should depraid upon the market value. Of the kinds 

 m^ed. above,. I prefer cottonseedTmeal.. ..It must, how- 

 ever, be borne in mind, that, when the percentage of am- 



