198 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ance in his soil, or may be purchased at very small prices in the open 

 market. The rare and precious have a price of their own, which the base 

 and common may not attain. Potash and lime are both necessary for plant 

 growth; the latter is cheap and common, while the former is costly and 

 precious, and priced must vary accordingly. 



OBJECT OF INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FEETILIZERS. 



The law does not prescribe any standard for the composition of a com- 

 mercial fertilizer, the manufacturer being free to make his own standard,, 

 the law simply requiring that the fertilizers offered for sale shall be up to 

 the standard set up by the manufacturer. The license to sell does not 

 certify to the value of the fertilizer, but simply states that the manu- 

 facturer or dealer offers for sale a fertilizer for which a certain content of 

 nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid is claimed, and that samples of such 

 fertilizers have been deposited with the secretary of the college with 

 affidavit regarding the composition. Analysis is then made of each of 

 these fertilizers, gathered in the open market as far as possible, and the 

 results of such analysis published in bulletin. The claimed composition 

 and found composition are arranged in parallel lines, so that the real com- 

 position can be compared at a glance with the composition claimed for it 

 by manufacturer. In this way the buyer can see at once by this bulletin 

 whether the fertilizer is as good as it claims. 



To find the market value, calculations can be made on the basis that 

 available nitrogen is worth nineteen cents per pound, soluble or available 

 phosphoric acid eight cents, insoluble phosphoric acid two cents, and 

 potash from four and one half to six cents, according as it is in the form 

 of chloride or sulphate. These prices are determined each year by the 

 prices of substances from which these materials are derived in the great 

 commercial centers, e. g., New York. 



The composition is given in parts in one hundred. To obtain the num- 

 ber of pounds in a ton we multiply the per cent, by twenty. If we multiply 

 the number of pounds in a ton by the price of each material the sum will 

 give the value of a ton of fertilizer. Take an example in a superphosphate 

 made in this state: 



Ammonia 2.99 % X 20 = 59.8 Bb in ton, @ 6c = $11 3& 



Available phosphoric acid 8.02 % X 20 = 160.4 lb @ 8c = 12 83 



Insoluble phosphoric acid 2.24 % X 20 = 44.8 Bb @ 2c = 90 



Potash soluble in water 1.68 % X 20 = 33.6 lb @ 6c = 2 02 



Market value, equals $27 11 



The whole value of a ton of sujierphosphate seems to be determined by 

 a little less than 300 pounds of the material. The remaining 1,700 pounds 

 may be considered as made up as follows: 



The 205 pounds of phosphoric acid would require 447^ pounds of 

 bone phosphate, or tricalcic phosphate, and this converted into 

 superphosphate and sulphate of lime would make 782^ pounds 



of lime salts 782.5 



The nitrogen would require 374 pounds albumenoids 374.0 



The potash as sulphate 66.5 



