REPORT OF BUREAU OF MARKETING AND SUPPLIES. 95 



farmers of the eastern shore of Virginia, who. by a strict ob- 

 servance of grades and by marketing their potatoes under a 

 special brand, obtain a premium over the market price for well- 

 sorted goods. There is a class of trade which is willing to pay 

 for a first-class article, if they can be assured that they may ob- 

 tain it at all times and I have seen high-priced labor in the city 

 sorting our best Maine stock and making three grades. The 

 first two grades, I was informed, would sell for more money 

 than the entire bulk of potatoes would sell for, ungraded. The 

 New York Department of Pure Foods and Markets is working 

 on a plan of large terminal warehouses, where the products of 

 the farm can be sold by private sale and public auction direct to 

 the stores and consumers at a minimum of expense, as com- 

 pared with our present expensive system of distribution. 



Owing to the high cost this season of the ingredients used in 

 fertilizers, I am led to believe that some manufacturers have 

 resorted to the use of leather scrap and wool-waste, more than 

 usual. While these are rich in nitrogen, they are slow to decay 

 and, therefore, are not regarded as an economical source of 

 this element. When dissolved with acid or treated in such a 

 way as to render them more immediately available, they may 

 be used to advantage, though the cost of such treatment is usu- 

 ally so great as to make it impossible to thus improve their 

 form and still be able to compete, commercially, with the other 

 nitrogenous products. 



There is, also, another cheap form of nitrogen known as 

 cyanamid, which will be used quite extensively this year in 

 the composition of fertilizer. This is an available source of 

 plant food, but must be used intelligently. If much cyanamid 

 is present in the fertilizer, and it comes in direct contact with 

 the seed, it tends to destroy its germination, which would result 

 in a poor stand of potatoes. Therefore, where a ton of fer- 

 tilizer containing cyanamid is used, it would be advisable to 

 broadcast a good portion of it and thoroughlv mix with the soil. 

 thus eliminating the aforementioned danger. 



Cyanamid is obtained by extracting nitrogen from the air and 

 the Government, as a part of its preparedness plan, appropri- 

 ated June 3, 1916. $20,000,000 for the establishment of a nitrate 

 plan for the extracting of nitrogen from the air. This will 1)^ 



