688 Report on Inspection Work of the 



law, but which would not be permitted under the suggested change. 

 In such a case, exemption would, however, be permitted, provided 

 the deficiency does not exceed 20 per ct. of the guaranty, if the other 

 constituents are present in excess sufficient to equal the amount of 

 monetary deficiency caused by shortage of nitrogen. In this particu- 

 lar case, a surplus of phosphoric acid or of potash, or of both combined, 

 equal to 1.40 per ct. would be enough to make an exemption of the 

 0.35 per ct. deficiency of nitrogen. 



Taking for further illustration an acid phosphate guaranteed to 

 contain 14 per ct. of phosphoric acid, a 10 per ct. deficiency would be 

 1.40 per ct., which under the present law is unconditionally permis- 

 sible but which under the suggested change would be a violation, 

 since in this case, where there is no other constituent present to furnish 

 any balancing surplus, only 1 per ct. (equal to 20 pounds per ton) 

 of deficiency would be absolutely exempt. The percentage of the 

 guaranty actually exempt would thus be about 7 (instead of 10 per ct. 

 of the guaranty). 



Take for another illustration a muriate of potash guaranteed to 

 contain 50 per ct. of potash. At present there is an absolute exemp- 

 tion of 10 per ct. of the guaranty, which is 5 per ct. of potash (equal to 

 100 pounds per ton, and having a value of about $5.00). Under the 

 suggested change a deficiency of over 1 per ct. of potash (equal to 

 over 20 pounds per ton and worth more than $1.00) would be a vio- 

 lation. Expressed in another way, if such a material contained less 

 than 49 per ct. of potash, the deficiency would constitute a viola- 

 tion. Instead of allowing as now an absolute exemption of 10 per ct., 

 or 100 pounds of potash, the suggested change would permit an 

 absolute exemption equal to only 2 per ct. of the guaranty (50 in this 

 case) which is 1 per ct. of potash or 20 pounds per ton. 



The suggested change would in large measure remedy the defects 

 of the present law and work in the interests of farmers. An applica- 

 tion of this suggestion to the cases considered above in Table XXVIII 

 gives the following results: (1) Under complete fertilizers -8 cases, 

 showing monetary deficiencies varying from $1.29 to $3.62 and aver- 

 aging $2.25 per ton, which at present are absolute exemptions, would 

 become violations, as they evidently should be. (2) Under fertilizing 

 materials 9 cases, showing monetary deficiencies varying from $1.21 

 to $4.57 and averaging $2.80 a ton, which at present are absolute 

 exemptions, would become violations. When the amounts of the 



