No - 6 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



807 



FERTILIZER VALUATIONS— 1905. 



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 war- 

 rant. It is clear, therefore, that no attempt is made in this valua- 

 tion 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 com- 

 position. 



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 equivalent 

 to the retail price of the single ingredients near the wholesale mar- 

 kets in ton lots of original packages for cash. 



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

 complete fertilizers, rock and potash, and ammonia ted rock; not 

 to dissolved or ground bone, or to dissolved rock. 



4. The expense and profit of bagging. 



5. Agents' commission: This item includes not only the commis- 

 sion 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 1904 were based: 



1. Upon the wholesale prices from September 1, 1903, to March 1, 

 1904, of the raw materials used in fertilizer manufacture, the quota- 

 tions of the New York market being adopted for all materials ex- 

 cept 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 de- 

 termine 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 composition is ascer- 

 tained by analysis. 



