II. REPORT OF ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL 

 FERTILIZERS FOR THE FALL OF 1898.* 



L. L. Van Slyke. 



SUMMARY. 



(1) Samples Collected. During the fall of 1898, the Station 

 collected 244 samples of commercial fertilizers, representing 162 

 different brands. Of these different brands 111 were complete 

 f ertilizers ; of the others, 23 contained phosphoric acid and 

 potash without nitrogen; 5 contained nitrogen and phosphoric 

 acid without potash; 12 contained phosphoric acid alone; 5 con- 

 tained potash salts only, and 6 contained nitrogen only. 



(2) Nitrogen. The 111 brands of complete fertilizers "con- 

 tained nitrogen varying in amount from 0.46 to 4.69 per cent and 

 averaging 1.67 per cent. The average amount of nitrogen found 

 by the Station analysis exceeded the average guaranteed amount 

 by 0.16 per cent, the guaranteed average being 1.51 per cent and 

 the average found being 1.67 per cent. 



In 84 brands of complete fertilizers, the amount of nitrogen 

 found was equal to or above the guaranteed amount, the excess 

 varying from 0.01 to 1.29 per cent and averaging 0.30 per cent. 



In 26 brands, the nitrogen was below the guaranteed amount, 

 the deficiency varying from 0.02 to 0.77 per cent and averaging 

 0.20 per cent. In 24 cases, the deficiency was less than 0.5 per 

 cent. 



The amount of water-soluble nitrogen varied from to 3.02 per 

 cent and averaged 0.54 per cent. 



(3) Available Phosphoric Acid. The 111 brands of complete 

 fertilizers contained available phosphoric acid varying in amount 



* Reprint of Bulletin No. 148. 



