Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/715

 700 FEDERAL REPORTER. �Itis proved that there was incommon use, prior to March 1, 1876, very numerous formulas for fertilizers, intended to be compounded bythe farmers themselves, called by the witnesses "home fertilizers," and that these formulas differed but slightly from each other. It appears that it was the practice of dealers in chemicals to publish and draw attention to these formulas for the purpose of getting per- sons to buy the ingredients of them. Many of these, including the Liebig formula, were used and publislied by both the complainants and defendants, and in some of them groand plaster and dissolved bone were called for. There is testimony tending very strongly to establish that in compounding the Liebig formula — that is to say, in a composition in which the ingredients were to be used in the same manner and substantially in the same proportions as in the Liebig formula — there were instances prior to March 1, 1876, in which others than the complainants used dissolved bone instead of gronnd bone, and ground plaster instead of calcined plaster. The defend- ants produce a written order from Parker & Watson, of Warrentown, North Garolina, dated January 24, 1876, in obedience to which they Bupplied the materials in substantially the same proportions as men- tioned in the Liebig formula, substituting dissolved bone for ground bone, and ground plaster for calcined plaster ; and immediately sub- sequent to March 1, 1876, numerous instances are proved from the books of defendants. �Hhe testimony of Dr. Starke, of Petersburgh, Virginia, also tends strongly to prove that the Liebig formula, with the changes above indicated, making it identical with the patent, was used by him in 1875. He produees a printed circular containing the formula exactly as patented, which he says is the same that he has been using since the fall of 1875. The circular produced was printed in 1878 or 1879, but he states that he is satisfied that it is a copy of the previ- ous ones circulated by him. He is positive that the earlier ones did not call for calcined, but for ground plaster, and he thinks they called for dissolved bone, and not ground bone. Although, of course, it is possible this wilness may be mistaken in his recollection, his recol- leetion is supported by an original entry in his sales-book, under date of February 18, 1876, in which a sale is recorded of the mate- rials required for the Liebig formula, and in which dissolved bone is one of the items and "plaster" another. �The witness — Dr. Nicholson, of South Hampton, Virginia — testi- fies very positively that the printed circular produced by him, which ��� �