No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 531 



FERTILIZER VALUATIONS— 1907. 



The object of an official valuation of commercial fertilizers is to enable the 

 consumer to judge approximately whether he has been asked to pay for a given 

 brand more than the fertilizing ingredients it contains and market conditions 

 prevailing at the time would warrant. It is clear, therefore, that no attempt 

 is made in this valuation to indicate whether the fertilizer valued possesses a 

 greater or less crop-producing capacity than another fertilizer; but only whether 

 it is higher priced than another of the same general composition. 



For this purpose it must be so computed as to include all the elements entering 

 into the cost of a fertilizer as it is delivered to the consumer. These elements 

 may be conveniently grouped as follows: 



1. The wholesale cost of the ingredients. 



2. The jobbers' gross profit on the sale of the ingredients; this includes office 

 expenses, advertising, losses, etc.; for the purpose of the present computation 

 it may be assumed that the sum of this gross profit and the wholesale cost of 

 the ingredients, is equiva-lent to the retail price of the single ingredients near 

 the wholesale markets in ten lots of original packages for cash. 



3. The expense and profit of mixing: This item applies only to complete fer- 

 tilizers, rock and potash, and ammoniated rock; not to dissolved or ground 

 bone, or to dissolved rock. 



4. The expense and profit of bagging. 



5. Agents' commissions: This item includes not only the commission proper, 

 but every advance in price due to the sale of the goods through an agent in 

 small quantities on time, rather than directly to the consumer in ton lots for 

 cash. 



6. Freight from the wholesale market to the point of delivery. 

 The valuations for 1906 were based: 



1. Upon the wholesale prices from September 1, 1905, to March 1, 1906, of the 

 raw materials used in fertilizer manufacture, the quotations of the New York 

 market being adopted for all materials except acidulated phosphate rock and 

 ground bone. 



2. Upon an allowance of 20 per cent, of the wholesale prices, above mentioned, 

 to cover jobbers' profit. 



By adding the 20 per cent, allowed for jobbers' gross profit to the wholesale 

 price of the several raw materials, the retail price in original packages at the 

 jobbers' warehouse is obtained. 



Since the amount of the several valuable fertilizing constituents in the various 

 raw materials is known, it is a simple matter to determine the corresponding 

 retail value per pound of the valuable fertilizing constituents yielded by each 

 raw material. A schedule of these pound values affords a convenient basis of 

 computation of the value per ton of various fertilizers, whose computation is 

 ascertained by analysis. 



The values assigned, for the present, to the other elements in the cost of the 

 fertilizer at the point of delivery are: 



3. For mixing, $1.00 per ton. 



4. For bagging, $1.00 per ton, in all cases except those in which the article 

 was sold in original packages; the cost of the package being, in such cases, in- 

 cluded in the wholesale price. 



5. For agents' commissions, 20 per cent, of the cost of the goods f. o. b. at 

 the jobbers' or mixers' warehouse. 



6. For freight, $2.00 per ton; the cost of the freight in lots of twelve tons or 

 over, from the seaboard to Harrisburg, averaging $1.88 per ton. 



The following valuation of dissolved South Carolina rock illustrates the 

 method: 



Soluble, 11.50 230 lbs. at 3c. $6 90 



Reverted, 2.50 50 lbs. at 2%c. 125 



Insoluble 1.00 20 lbs. at l^^c 30 



Retail cash value of ingredients $8 45 



Bagging, 1 GO 



Cash value of goods ready for shipment $9 45 



Agents' commissions , 20 per cent 189 



Freight, 2 00 



Commercial value per ton $13 34 



