311- Agricultural Gazelle of N.SJV. [April 2, 1908. 



buing the vjiluc pur Inn of tliuL substuiice in llic munuii'. i'ur L'xuni])lc, a 



bone-dust contains 4 per cent, nitrogen and 20 per cent, phosphoric acid : — 



4 X l")s. Oil. f.S <)s. (111. value nf tliu nitrogen per ton. 

 20 X .'is. OJ. — £3 Os. Oil. = value of tlie jiho.splioiic acid per ton 



£() (l.s. Oil. - value iif niauuie per ton. 

 It must be clearly understood that the \alui' thus assigned, depending solely 

 upon the chemical composition of tlic ni.inure, does not represent in all cases 

 the actual money value of the luanuic, whic^i depends upon a variety of 

 causes other than the composition, ami is all'ected by local conditions. 

 Neither does it i-cpnscnt the costs inriurrd liy tin' nianiifactun'i- in the 

 pteparation, such as cost of mixing, bagging, labelling, I'cc. It is simply 

 intended as a standard by which difPer-ent 2)roduct.s may be compared. At 

 the same time, it has been attempted to make the standard indicate as nearly 

 as j)ossible the fair retail price of the manure, and tlie fact that in the majority 

 of cases the price asked and the value assigned are fairly close show s that the 

 valuation is a reasonable one. 



These figures have been checkefl in all cases by analyses made on samples 

 collected by an officer of the Depai'tmcnt. It by no means follows, however, 

 that tlie ])articular product analysed and here pul)lislied will be in stock for 

 any length of time. 



Some agents guarantee two figures — for instance, ''from Ki to 18 \wv cent, 

 phosphoric acid." In these cases the lower one has l)een published in the 

 list, as it \\ ill certaiidy be the one the vendors will ivly upon in cases of 

 dispute. 



Now that the Fertiliser Adulteration Act is in force, the purchaser has 

 only himself to blame if he pays for cin inferior article. Every vendor is 

 obliged to furnish a guarantee with every delivery of fertiliser, setting forth 

 its actual composition as determined by analysis. 



If tlie jun-chaser has any I'eason to suspect the genuineness of the guai'antee, 

 all he has to do is to notify the vendor of his intention to take samples for 

 analysis, in sufficient time to enable the vendor oi' some person appointed by 

 him to be present. The samples must be taken before the consiginnent is 

 finally in the purchaser's possession ; for example, if the fertiliser is sent by 

 rail, the sample should be taken at the lailway station or siding. Three 

 sam})les nuist Ix' taken, one being given to the vendor oi- his repi'esentative, 

 the second kept by the purchaser and submitted to an analy.st, and the third 

 forwardefl to the Department of Agi-iculture for future refer(>nce, in case of 

 divergence in the analyses of the other two. All three samples nmst be 

 sealed up. 



In the case of bone-dust, blood, and lione manures, itc, the valuation has 

 been made irrespective of the fineness of division, and is based on the amounts 

 of fertilising ingi'edients only ; but it must be borne in mind that finely 

 ground bone-dust acts moi'e rapidly than coarse, and that unground fragments 

 of bone only become available as fertilisers very slowly. 



A word may be added in explanation of the term water-soluble phosphoric 

 acid. When hones or jniiieral jihosphates are acted on h\- sulphuiac acid, a 



