Commercial Fertilizers

Prof Charles E. öoessman, of the Ag ricultural College at Amberst, Mass., he reoently made a valúa ble report on tíiie Subject. Vi e gire a fuw oxtracts : Uno of the mos,t iniportimt feature ol the present dar in tho management of the farm is tho gerund and extensivo uee ol commercial, eoncentrated fertiiizera. It ia but 80 years eince the mineral oonstituents of planta were looked upon as being merely of incidental occurrenee, and without any oBhential beahng upon their development ; but these view ii.lvc beon ontiruiy changcd in the progresa oí science. ]S umarous and more exucí chemical analyses of the ishes ui plants, which accummated rïumig the boginniüg of tho present century, began thon to engage the attention of bcieutific investigators. The successf ui introduction of mineral fertilicen for Bgrioultural purposes is one of thu striking illuslrations of the influence and the vaina which exact modes ol' inquiry, with well defined question, havi' over mere experimeníing, without a pruvious correct appreqiation of tho agencies and the principios in volved in the operation. Truo progresa in sgricultnre can in almoat every inatance be proved to bo tbc resalt of the ippreciation of sueh ratior.al modes cf invtetigation as eyery brituch of natural and physical scienoe hag sauctioned in its own field of inquiry. To begin with an analysis has proved to be here, as elsewhore in experimental science, the safest and moat economical course to secure a desirablo fonndution for synthetical attenipts. The intelligent farmer of the present day has greatiy improved his chances by calling on the seientiiie investigators in eyery department of natural soience to aid him in his varied and complicattd iields of labor. The best experimental resources of the present day have served of lato as guides in drawing more oorrect deductione, and in arriving thus at more reliable resulta. To study the growth of our ferm plunts under simple and well defined circumstances, in the green-house and upon the experimental liold, and to control the resulta thus obtained carefully in their various relations by menns of the balance in the chemical laboratory, have greatiy facilitated the discovery of more correct interpretations of fncts than is possible uuder more complicated circumstances in the usual course of general farm operations. Lcaving the improvomenta of farm implements here out of consideration, we rnay safely assert that the main reasons of bettor resulta in agrionltural operations, whorever earried on in a rational way, is duo to a better knowledge regarding the relations of vegetable lite to the soil, to tho air, 3nd to water, and the various reactions of these agencies upon each other, with due appreciation of the mutual deIendcnoy of animáis nnd plants in the businossof farming. Modern agriculture recognizes as its baais the necessiity of a quiek restitution to the soil of those substances which the crops raised have abstracted. To jrove the exiatence of theco relations, and teach how to comply wiih tho requirements in each particular case, is the work of scientific investigations of the present generation. There is no opposition to any particular eysteni of farm management. Each farmer ia left to choose an agricultural induatry beat adapted to hia natural and personal resources, yet all are restricted by one cominon rule : they have to comply with that unalterable relation wbich existsbetwecn domand and supply, aince eaeh plaat, although in its own way, tenda to exhaust the soil sooner or later. The rapid and extensivo introduction of commercial mineral fortilizers is the best possible acknowledgruent, although frequently unoonsciously given, on the part of the practical farmer, regarding his belief in the usefulness of scienoe in agriculture. The use of these conoentruted fertilizers has fairiy revolntionized this indnstry. Thoy have proved whorover jndiciously applied, a most fiíable investmont. A ncw era inay be dated froin tbe day oí their introduction, for the farmer ftnds his field oíopt-rations lcss restrictod thim f'ormerl}', and being more at liberty to choose his crops with referenoe to bis markets, is ablo to mako his avocation more remunerative.