-I Mi: AORN I LTURAL SOCIETY. 189 



CAUTIONARY OBSERVATIONS 



CON< I i:\iv. 



'COMMERCIAL VALUATIONS" OF FERTILIZERS. 



This office, having received many letters of inquiry respecting the vari- 

 ous commercial fertilizers, their manufacture, results of experiments, 

 valuation, etc., deems it advisable to here reproduce the remarks and 

 analyses of fertilizers made by the Department of Agriculture of Virginia, 

 under the supervision of Honorable Randolph Harrison, Commissioner: 



This subject is a very perplexing one; beginning with the question, whether it is right 

 to estimate and publish the commercial values of fertilizers ( as some manufacturers main- 

 tain), down to tlie never ending difficulties attending tin- effort to fix a scale Of prices, 

 which shall he in some degree a guide to the farmer, and at the same time just to manu- 

 facturers and dealers. 



To go even further hack: the term " commercial valuation," does not seem to he well 

 defined. If it is a valuation based anon the wholesale prices of the ammonia, phosphoric 



acid, and potash, in the great markets of the country, then it must be conceded that the 

 figures are much too high in all the State Departments and at all the experiment stations. 



Another element of difficulty in fixing valuations: Nitrogen (commonly estimated as 

 ammonia) is worth more or less, according to the source from which it is derived. So 

 that, as the matter stands-, we have to try and strike a comparative average (if the expres- 

 sion conveys the meaning), and then candidly confess to the farmer, in the language of 

 Dr. Dabny, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, that "the valuations arc only 

 relatively correct; thev are not intended to fix the price at which the articles are to he 

 sold." 



In conclusion, the Commissioner will say that he and Dr. Gascoyne are satisfied that 

 the present valuation for ammonia, twenty cents per pound, and available phosphoric- 

 acid, nine cents, are too high, but does not consider it expedient to make a change during 

 this season. 



