New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 281 



the respective ingredients, in the form of unmixed raw materials, 

 could be bought at retail for cash in our large markets. These 

 prices also correspond (except in case of available phosphoric acid) 

 to the average wholesale prices for the six months preceding 

 March plus about 2.0 per cent in case of goods for which there are 

 wholesale quotations. 



Trade- values of Plant-food Elements in Raw Materials and Chemicals. 



1898. 



Cts. per 



pound. 



Nitrogen in ammonia salts 14 



" in nitrates v . 13 



Organic nitrogen in dry and fine-ground fish, meat and blood, and 



mixed fertilizers 14 



" in cotton-seed meal and castor-pomace 12 



" in fine ground bone and tankage 13^ 



" in coarse bone and tankage 10 



Phosphoric acid, water-soluble 4| 



" citrate-soluble 4 



" in fine- ground fish, bone and tankage 4 



" in coarse fish, bone and tankage 3£ 



in cotton-seed meal, castor- pomace and wood ashes. . 4 



" in mixed fertilizers, insoluble in ammonium citrate. . 2 



Potash as high-grade sulphate, in forms free from muriates (chlorides), 



in ashes, etc 5 



Potash in muriate 4$ 



» 



COMPARISON OF SELLING PRICE AND COMMERCIAL VALUATION. 



Giving to the different constituents the values assigned in the 

 schedule for mixed fertilizers, 14 cents a pound for nitrogen, 4 1-2 

 cents a pound for water-soluble phosphoric acid, 4 cents a pound 

 for citrate soluble phosphoric acid, 2 cents a pound for insoluble 

 phosphoric acid, and 4 1-4 cents a pound for potash, we can calcu- 

 late the commercial valuation, or the price at which the separate 

 unmixed materials contained in one ton of fertilizer, having the 

 composition indicated in the preceding table, could be purchased 

 for cash at retail at the seaboard. Knowing the retail prices at 

 which these goods were offered for sale, we can also readily esti- 

 mate the difference between the actual selling price or the mixed 

 goods and the retail cash cost of the unmixed materials ; the differ- 

 ence covers the cost of mixing, freight, profits, etc. We present 

 these data in the following table, including only complete fer- 

 tilizers. 



