No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



511 



The quotations for bono arc ^ivcn williout .spocific? rofercnce to 

 quality, so that it i.s impossible, Ironi tliese data, fairly to apportion 

 their several wholesale values to the nitroj^en and |jliospIioric acid 

 contained in this material. As compared with tankage, the general 

 tendency is to assign a higher coniincrcial rating to tlic pliosphoric 

 acid in bone, and to the nitrogen, a rating not very dill'erent fioni 

 that given in tankage. 



In former years, the value assigned to the bone nitrogen has been 

 the same as that quoted on crushed tankage, c. a. f. Baltimore. In 

 later years, quotations for both crushed tankage and ground tank- 

 age havd not been available, and for that reason, the value of bone 

 nitrogen is based upon the quotations for concentrated tankage. 



In earlier years, quotations on ground tankage have been about 

 5 per cent, in advance of those on concei;trated tankage; also quota- 

 tions on crushed tankage Avere on an average 12.()7 per cent, in ad- 

 vance of those on ground tankage. Increasing the price of concen- 

 trated tankage by these percentages, we have $3.46 per unit of am- 

 monia as the value assigned to the nitrogen in bone. 



This is equivalent to |4.19 per unit of nitrogen. 



The average composition of the ground bone and bone meal sam- 

 ples analyzed last year in Pennsylvania was : Phosphoric acid, 22.35 

 per cent. ; nitrogen 3.24 per cent. 



The prepared bone contains less fat and moisture, and often less 

 nitrogen than the ordinary rough bone, but these differences tend, in 

 a measure, to neutralize each other. Assuming for the rough bone 

 quoted in the New York market the same composition as the bone 

 meal sold in Pennsylvania, and for the value of the nitrogen |4.19 

 jjer unit, as previously stated, the values per pound of the several 

 constituents would be: 



Wholesale Cost per Pound of Fertilizer Constituents, New York 



II. Bone 



Rough bone, . 

 Ground bone, 



( Nitrogen 



( Phosplioric acid, 



I Nitrogen, 



I Phosphoric acid, 



:o.95 



1.17 



20. J' 



3.45 



25.14 

 2.60 



25.14 

 4.14 



A'aluation in Neighboring States 



It is desirable, from all points of view, that the schedules of valua- 

 tion throughout a district in which similar market conditions pre- 

 vail, should differ as little as possible. It has been our practice in 

 the past, to conform our schedule to that adoj)ted after very careful 

 co-operative study of the market conditions for each year, by the 



