No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 755 



For baggiug, an allowance of fl.OO per ton on all fertilizers, except 

 when sold in original packages. 



For mixing, an allowance of -fl.OO per ton on complete fertilizers 

 and rock-and-potash goods. 



For agents' commission, an allowance of 20 per cent, is added to 

 the cash values of the good^ ready for shipment. 



The mean quotation on freight from New York, Philadelphia and 

 Baltimore to Harrisburg, in January, 1897, was $1.68 per ton, in lots 

 of twelve tons or over. In May, 1899, quotations by the Pennsyl- 

 vania Railroad w^ere: From New York, |2.40; from Philadelphia, 

 |1.70; and from Baltimore, $1.55; mean rate from the three points, 

 $1.88. 



For the year 1903 and under similar conditions of shipment, quota- 

 tions by the Pennsylvania Railroad were: From New York, $2.40; 

 from Philadelphia, $1.90, and from Baltimore, Md., $1.75; mean rate 

 from the three points, $2.02. 



FERTILIZER ANALYSES, JANUARY 1 TO AUGUST 1, 1904. 



Since January 1, 1904, there have been received from authorized 

 sampling agents eleven hundred and fifty-two fertilizer samples, 

 of which four hundred and ninety-three were subjected to analysis, 

 the remainder being rejected either because they represented brands 

 analyzed last season, or because they were regarded as not certainly 

 representative of the brand whose name they bore. When two or 

 more samples representing the same brand were received, equal 

 portions from the several samples w-ere united and the composite 

 sample was subjected to analysis. 



The samples analyzed group themselves as follows: 353 complete 

 fertilizers, furnishing phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen; 2 dis- 

 solved bones, furnishing phosphoric acid and nitrogen; 75 rock-and- 

 potash fertilizers, furnishing phosphoric acid and potash; 41 acidu- 

 lated rock phosphates, furnishing phosphoric acid only; 22 ground 

 bones, furnishing phosphoric acid and nitrogen. 



The determinations to which a complete fertilizer is subjected are 

 as follows: (1) Moisture, useful for the comparison of analyses, for 

 indication of dry condition and fitness for drilling, and also of the 

 conditions under which the fertilizer was kept in the warehouse. (2) 

 Phosphoric acid — total, that portion soluble in water, and of the 

 residue, that portion not soluble in warm ammonium citrate solution 

 (a solution supposed to represent the action of plant roots upon 

 the fertilizer), which is assumed to have little immediate food value. 

 By difference, it is easy to compute the so-called "reverted" acid, 

 which is the portion insoluble in water but soluble in the citrate. 

 The sum of the soluble and reverted is commonly called the "avail- 

 able" phosphoric acid. (3) Potash soluble in water, — most of that 

 present in green ?and marl and crushed minerals, and even some of 

 that present in vegetable materials such as cotton-seed meal, not 



