762 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



gauic matter, (5) Cliloiiu; this determinatiou is made* to ailord a 

 basis for estimating the proportion of the potash that is present as 

 chlorid or muriate, the cheaper source. The computation is made 

 on the assumption tliat the chlorin present, unless in excess, has 

 been introduced in the form of muriate of potash; but doubtless 

 there are occasional exceptions to this rule. One part of chlorin 

 combines with 1.32G parts of potash to form the pure muriate; know- 

 ing the chlorin, it is, therefore, easy tc compute the potash equiva- 

 lent thereto. (7) In the case of ground bone, the state of sub-divi- 

 sion is determined by sifting through accurately made sieves; the 

 cost of preparation and esi)ecially the promptness of action of bone 

 in the soil depends very largely on the fineness of its particles, the 

 finer being much more (piickly useful to the plant. 



The law having required the manufacturer to guarantee the 

 amount of certain valuable ingredients present in any brand he may 

 put upon the market, chemical analysis is employed to verify the 

 guaranties stamped upon the fertilizer sacks. It has, therefore, 

 been deemed desirable in this report to enter the guaranty filed by 

 the manufacturer in the office of the Secretary of Agriculture, in 

 such connection with the analytical results that the two may be 

 compared. An unfortunate piactice has grown up among manu- 

 facturers of so wording the guaranty that it seems to declare the 

 presence in the goods of an amount of a valuable constituent rang- 

 ing from a certain mininmm to a much higher nmximum; thus, "Pot- 

 ash, 2 to 4 per cent." is a guaranty not infrequently given. In 

 reality, the sole guaranty is for 2 per cent. The guaranteed amounts 

 given for each brand in the following tables, are copied from the 

 guaranties filed b}' the maker of the goods with the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, the lowest figure given for any constituent being con- 

 sidered to be the amount guaranteed. For compactness and be- 

 cause no essentially important fact is suppressed thereby, the guar- 

 anties for soluble and reverted i^hosphoric acid have not been given 

 separately, but are combined into a single guaranty for available 

 phosphoric acid; in cases where the maker's guaranty does not speci- 

 fically mention available phosphoric acid, the sum of the lowest 

 figures given by him for soluble and reverted phosphoric acid is 

 used. The law of 1879 allowed the maker to express his guaranty 

 for nitrogen either in terms of that element or in terms of the am- 

 monia equivalent thereto; since ammonia is composed of three parts 

 of hydrogen and fourteen parts of nitrogen, it is a very simple 

 matter to calculate the amount of one, w'hen the amount of the 

 other is given; the amount of nitrogen multiplied by 1.214 will give 

 the corresponding amount of ammonia, and the amount of am- 

 monia multiplied by 0.824 will give the corresponding amount of 

 nitrogen. In these tables, the expression is in terms of nitrogen. 



The law of 1901 abolishes this alternative and requires that the 

 guaranty shall be given in terms of nitrogen. Many manufacturers 

 after complying with the terms of the law-, insert additional items 

 in their guaranties, often with the result of misleading or confusing 

 the buyer; the latter will do well to give heed to those items only 

 that are given as the law requires and that are presented in these 

 tables. 



A summary of the analyses made this season may be presented as 

 follows: 



