Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1904-10-06

Buying Fertilizers.

Our state legislatures are doing
what they can to protect the people
against low grade fertilizers. Some
Oh the states require the experiment
stations to publish special bulletins
on fertilizers and send them to all the
rarmors that want them. This is to
spread the information among the
farmers as rapidly as possible. II
our farmers would avail themselves
OF these opportunities more than
they do they would be the gamers.
The fertilizer trade is already very
large one in the East and is growing
rapidly in the West. All the informa.
ton that can be gained should be laid
hold of. Our best fertilizer firms are
selling only good materials and are
as anxious as the farmers can be to
Keep the poor goods out of the mar.
ket. Any attempt to enforce the fer
tilizer laws always has the support
OF these companies, for their worst
enemies are the small companies that
are selling inferior goods at low
price. The farmer thinks he Is get
ting bargain in buying these cheap
goods and so goes to the men that sell
him the poorest stuff and make the
most out OF him. II the men that are
selling the cheap fertilizers sold it as
low as do the men that sell only high
grade fertilizers the men that sell the
poor stuff would have to 60 out of
business. They sell the poor stuff
and make money by really getting for
the fertilizers contained a greater
price than the others do. The farmer
is finding this out only slowly.
Some Of the large firms stoop to
create bogus companies that sell this
material. The writer happened in the
territory Of one such firm doing bust.
ness in the southern part of Illinois.
The large firm in question had an
agency in the place and this agency
sent out two sets of agents, one set
representing the agency and the 9th.
er representing a fictitious company
supposed to be located in the same
place. The cheap material was work.
ed off under the name of the bogus
company and generally on farmers to
whom could not be sold the high.
priced goods, but who wanted some.
thing cheap. 1t was found best to
sell mostly to farmers too far away to
| come to the place and look up the
headquarters. But one day a farmer
who had been buying the cheap goods
came into the agency referred to and
| said he was very much dissatisfied
| with the fertilizers of the company
he had been buying Of, and he wanted
| to be directed to their store. The
| agent informed him that the company
| he was looking for had formerly been
located in that neighborhood, but had
| been burned out and had gone out of
business, but that he would be glad
to supply the farmer with goods that
could not be found fault with.
The farmer that is always looking
at the price and not at the quality
at the same time is always getting
beaten in his trades. 1t is impossible
that it should be otherwise as long
as there are INSCRIPTIONS men that
are making a living in commercial
ventures.
Professor Hopkins has been telling
the farmers that they must ignore ev.
erything in fertilizers except the ele.
ments that they are looking for, and
| he is right. 1t is not a question OF
how many tons of fertilizing material
farmer buys, but of how many
pounds of potassium, phosphorus and
nitrogen he is getting, and at what
cost per pound.