New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 963 



If all the purchasers of lower grade fertilizers had judged brands 

 and values wisely, they might have saved themselves at least $500,000 

 in 1914; since the lower-grade brands cost at least that sum more 

 than would high-grade goods of the same value as measured by the 

 retail price, in the large markets, of the fertilizer elements they 

 carried. 



It should be noted in this connection, however, that the high- 

 grade fertilizers are higher priced, as a rule, because they contain 

 larger proportions of nitrogen than do goods of lower grade, and 

 nitrogen is the most expensive element in fertilizers. To those 

 growers, therefore, who know they do not need much nitrogen, the 

 purchase of complete fertilizers of the highest grade might not be 

 advisable, as the waste of nitrogen might easily overbalance the gain 

 from better prices for the other ingredients. In such cases, brands 

 of lower grade should be selected, in which the proportion of nitrogen 

 is less, but in which the selling price is still not unreasonably above 

 the commercial valuation of the ingredients. Such brands may be 

 found in every grade. Even in the lowest grade goods, one brand 

 was found whose selling price was only $2.03 above its commercial 

 valuation; in medium-grade goods one fertilizer carried ingredients 

 whose commercial valuation was equal to the selling price of the 

 brand; and in medium high-grade goods one brand was found whose 

 selling price and commercial valuation differed by only 10 cents. 



To sum it all up, the lesson of the figures is that careful study of 

 fertilizer values will result in saving to the purchaser. That such 

 study is being given by many farmers is shown by the fact that in 

 1902 69 per ct. of the brands on the market were " complete " fer- 

 tilizers, in 1914 only 61 per ct.; in 1902 only 17 per ct. of the brands 

 offered were high-grade goods, while in 1914, 26.1 per ct. belonged in 

 that class. Rather slow progress, however, when the chances for 

 saving are so evident! 



In making the comparisons of brands, buyers can, in 

 Inspection most instances, depend upon the manufacturer's 

 shows good guaranty, since in only 27 brands of complete fer- 

 conditions. tilizers out of 614 examined was the deficiency of 

 elements great enough to make the sale of the brand 

 a violation of the present fertilizer law; and of special mixtures 

 and unmixed materials only 7 samples out of 390 examined showed 

 sufficient deficiency to class them as violations. Balancing all 

 excesses and deficiencies it is shown that the manufacturers of com- 

 plete fertilizers gave fertilizer elements worth about $1.08 a ton 

 more than their guaranties demanded, there being an average 

 excess of 0.08 per ct. of nitrogen, 0.44 per ct. of available phosphoric 

 acid and 0.34 per ct. of potash. In general, therefore, the manu- 

 facturers' guaranties, especially if backed by good reports in inspec- 

 tion bulletins of recent years, may be taken as safe guides in com- 

 puting the relative value of the brands, using the figures for the 



