No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



867 



It is needful to uote here another factor greatly affecting the prac- 

 tical accuracy of tfiese approximations. Tlieir computation would 

 offer little difficulty and their usefulness be far greater, if, by the 

 ordinary methods of analysis, the exact nature of the ingredients 

 used to supply the several fertilizer constituents, were capable of 

 certain determination. This is, however, possible, to-day, to only a 

 limited extent. The valuations are, therefore, based on the assump- 

 tion that the fertilizers are uniformly compounded from high quality 

 ingredients, such as are commonly employed in the manufacture of 

 fertilizers of the several classes. Consumers should carefully avoid 

 the error of accepting such valuations as infallible; they are not de- 

 signed to be used for close comparison of single brands, but only to 

 indicate whether the price asked for a fertilizer is abnormal, assum- 

 ing good quality for the ingredients used. From this it is clear that, 

 except as high freights may require, the selling price of a brand 

 should not far exceed the valuation; but that a fertilizer may be 

 made of inferior materials and yet have a high valuation. 



The valuations used during 1900 were modified for use during 1901 

 in accordance with the changes in wholesale prices of fertilizing 

 ingredients and to make the valuations more closely follow the sell- 

 ing price. 



The following comparative statement shows the valuations and 

 selling prices of the several classes of fertilizers during 1900 and 

 1901. 



Fertilizers. 







°E 



o 



a 



t£ >- 

 ~*. p. 



Q 



—0.77 



—2.64 



4.87 



—2.61 



— 0.«9 



0.81 

 -8.48 



—0.71 

 -1.88 

 —0.85 



0.84 



—1.60 



1.00 



1.12 



—0.89 



1.47 



—1.86 



—0.65 



1.75 



0.<4 



57_6_1902 



