Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-04-16

~ IS safe to surmise that if the aues-
lion OF artificial or commercial fertil
izers was put to a large gathering Of
farmers, fifty per cent. Of them would
say 1t does not pay to use them. in
tact, nothing is more common than to
near farmers complain that the com
mercial fertilizers now in market are
not worth the money asked for them.
some even going SO far as to class
Them all as frauds, falling far short Of
doing what the vendors and manufac
tuners claim for them.
1t is absurd to deny that even
apartjal analysis, in reach of nearly
every district schoolteacher, shows
that, Notwithstanding the strin-
gent legislative enactments, many a
sack OF bone neal with the tag con
tanning the signature of State Chem
LIST contains substances entirely for.
eign to what this tag calls for; but of
course the farmer is not expected to
send sample for technical ANALYSIS.
and thus tie imposition is allowed to
go on. In all my experience with fer
lilzer manufacturers and consumers,
during which very inferior goods have
been found i'll sacks marked good"
and selling for as high as thirty-three
dollars per ton, / do not recollect a
solitary instance OF either the manu-
facturer or yender being made to suf-
fW thereby; but still that mortgage
remains unpaid, the farmer lives in the
old house, goes to meeting in the old
wagon, and his wife and daughters
wear calico while the people from
whom he buys his fertilizers own their
residences, have farms without the
mortgage, where they spend their sum
mers going to and fro with their team
OF spanking bays, covered carriages,
with their wives and daughters at the
springs, dressed in silks and satins.
These things ought not so to be; the
t1ller OF the soil, he that feeds us ALL
hence he in whom all well balanced
minds have, or should have, deep
and abiding interest, should have a
full equivalent for whatever he buys,
and nothing more SO than in the mat
ter OF commercial fertilizers.
This question, like all others, has,
however, two sides, and before we
place all the blame on the producer.
let us see If the consumer the farmer.
always acts wisely when in the market
for his fertilizer. Many farmers have
mistaken idea of economy in regard to
their purchase of commodities. Some
OF them look more to quantity than TO
quality at fair price That there are
honest manufacturers of fertilizers
goes without saying. They have
reputation at stake, and could not af
ford to put up an inferior article even
If their avarice would tempt them to
do SO. But good goods bring good
prices, hence it is not reasonable to
suppose that new brand whose his
tory is unknown take but little
stock in the tags on the sacks--that is
offered you al twenty dollars per ton
will give you better results than the
brand, old, tried and true, that is held
at 90 per cent. more, merely because
that fine-loolling, welldressed gentle
man tells You SO.
1t is q notorious fact that farmers
are infatuated with low prices. They
have but little profits, we all know,
and they strive to make the dollar go
as far as possible in their purchases,
but this is not always the wisest policy
to pursue. The old but trite saving
that the best is always the cheapest.