The tendency toward cooperative buying on the part
of small farmers will increase as it has done in those coun-
tries in which there is a larger use of fertilizers than here,
though the method is already in successful operation in
certain sections of the country, and with very gratifying
results. In this method of direct purchase, the manu-
facturer and the consumer are brought into closer rela-
tions with each other. Transactions are based upon the
transfer of a definite number of pounds of a specific kind
and form of plant-food, rather than upon some myste-
riously remarkable qualities that are claimed, and are by
many supposed to be inherent in certain mixtures.
CHAPTER X

CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS

A COMPLETE chemical analysis of a fertilizer shows
not only the total amount of the different constituents
contained in a brand, but the form in which they exist,
and in most cases, the source of the materials used is also
indicated.
