They also used vine, straw, stalks, leaves, weeds, and trash as compost and wrote how this new soil greatly helped the crops. Sir Francis Bacon was the first to write about fertilizers made from compost and manure. John Winthrop, a founder of the Connecticut Colonies, started the first fertilizer company in America. Many of the first companies used agricultural and industrial residues like animal's manure, blood and bone from butchered cattle, cottonseed meal, fish scraps and castor pumice. Peruvian guano was shipped for fertilizer use starting in 1849.
Fertilizer is natural or manufactured material that boosts plant growth when added to the soil.
Natural fertilizer like manure is the best possible fertilizer for plants. You can't always depend on it, though, because the cows might have a disease or have eaten something bad. It is also hard to transport and in short supply. So, most farmers use manufactured fertilizer, which at first seems to improve production and quality of crops. The principal minerals in manufactured fertilizer are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.