218 
The Present State of Agriculture 
avidity, and lliat singularly ignorant transition state of things 
arose, by which the relation between the artificial manure manu- 
facturer and the manure consumer in this country is at present 
characterised. 
On the one hand we have a body of men, the practical farmers 
of England, among whom there is a greater number, I believe, of 
zealous, enlightened, and open-hearted improvers than in any 
other country. On the other, a crowd of persons, with that 
superficial amount of the necessary knowledge which in this 
country we call quackery, preparing manures for their use. We 
have numerous trials of their nostrums going on, numerous losses 
sustained by the farmer which we never hear of, and ) ear by 
vear the maker taking: means to add a little to his own inforin- 
ation, and if a failure in the demand admonish him, a little also 
to the real value of the article he manufactures. 
Of course among the vast number who now follow this trade 
there are some who are more skilful and trustworthy — some I 
know to be highly honourable men — but this rarer few use 
harder words regarding their brethren in trade than I am willing 
to do. It is easy to foresee that this branch of business will by- 
and-by become one of the most important in the country, and 
will afford scope enough for many honest men to make an 
honourable livelihood. In the mean time having had occasion 
to analyse and to investigate the mode of manufacture of many of 
the artificial manures now on sale, I cannot refrain from publicly 
reprobating the unfair advantage so often taken of the inability of 
the English farmer to test before-hand the value of what, in his 
creditable efforts to improve, he feels himself almost compelled 
to purchase. 
The sale of fraudulent manures — for ill-compounded manures, 
made up after defective recipes, are not mere adulterations — the 
sale of such manures not only causes loss in the first instance to 
the practical man, but it destroys his confidence in such prepa- 
rations, retards the progress of the art, keeps down the yearly 
produce of the land, and seriously Injures the honest and in- 
structed manufacturer who deals fairly in what he makes. 
And yet practical men are not themselves without blame in 
this matter : cheapness is by many farmers as much sought after 
as quality. The makers of manures have been obliged to consult 
this taste, and to the cheap, in many cases, to sacrifice the good 
nearly altogether. Some who, I know, are desirous of bringing 
into the market only what is deserving of confidence, and will 
bear a rigid examination, have thus written to me: — " We cannot 
afford to sell our pure manures at the price they will bring in 
the market. The competition of others prevents it. We are 
obliged, therefore, to reduce them by some cheap admixture;" 
