8X8 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. [Vol 36 



soda and sulphate of ammonia have been high at times when the prices of tankage 

 and cottonseed meal were low, and vice versa." The possibility of substituting 

 one nitrogenous fertilizer for another has, however, tended to steady prices and 

 to prevent control of prices by combinations. 



" The prices of phosphate rock and acid phosphate — the principal phosphatlc 

 materials— are also determined largely by domestic conditions, among which may 

 be mentioned the prices of cotton on the demand side and the tendency to over- 

 production of Florida phosphate rock and of sulphuric acid on the supply side, 

 these two materials being the constituents of acid phosphate." "The whole- 

 sale prices of German potash salts have been arbitrarily controlled by a syndi- 

 cate of producers, of which the Prussian Government is a member, competition 

 in prices having been eliminated since 1910 by an imperial law." Supply and 

 demand, in the main, control the prices of mixed fertilizers. 



" Farmers' prices of fertilizer materials for cash purchases in carload quanti- 

 ties have compared favorably with wholesale prices, but farmers' credit prices 

 have often been excessively high. . . . The prices paid by farmers for mixed 

 fertilizers have been high in comparison with the cash value of the constituent 

 elements, partly because of credit conditions and the expensive distributing 

 methods of the large fertilizer companies. ... An important feature of the 

 fertilizer industry in recent years has been the rapid increase of local dry-mixing 

 concerns, especially in the cotton-growing States, and the activities of concerns 

 engaged in selling fertilizer materials and in spreading a propaganda for home 

 mixing. The competition of these eoncei-ns has had an important effect on the 

 mixed-fertilizer business." 



Some observations on the present status of the subject of the availability 

 of nitrogen in fertilizers, C. B. Lipman (Jour. Indus, and Engin. Ckem.. y 

 {1917), No. 2, pp. 189-191; Rpt. Chem. Control Com., Nat. Pert. Assoc, Meeting 

 Pert. Div. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1916, pp. S-6). — This is a review of work con- 

 ducted mainly at the California Experiment Station, the purpose being to bring 

 out " that the nitrifiability of fertilizers as determined by some laboratory 

 method is a reliable guide to the determination of their availability, that soils 

 of different climatic regions differ markedly in that respect, and that the stand- 

 ards on the availability of nitrogen in different fertilizers as previously estab- 

 lished under humid soil conditions will probably have to be revised for arid soils 

 at least." 



The availability of nitrogenous materials, J. G. Lipman and A. W. Blair 

 (New Jersey Stas. Rpt. 1915, pp. 195-20S, pis. 2). — Pot experiments with barley 

 on white sand confirmed the results of previous experiments (E. S. R., 34, p. 129) 

 In that they showed the amount of nitrogen recovered from sodium nitrate, 

 ammonium sulphate, and organic materials to be in the order in which the 

 materials are named. In further experiments on sandy loam soil calcium cyan- 

 amid stood second to sodium nitrate in percentage of nitrogen recovered, but 

 in yield of dry matter dried blood was second and ammonium sulphate third. 

 Ammonium nitrate gave only a low yield. 



Pot experiments with barley on sandy loam soil to determine the availability 

 of ammonium sulphate when used in varying amounts with and without lime 

 showed that the yield increased with the increase of the ammonium sulphate 

 applied up to a certain limit. Limed and unlimed sections were very much 

 alike, although more nitrogen was recovered from the limed than from the 

 unlimed sections. 



Experiments with white sand to compare green manures with commercial 

 nitrogenous materials, showed that the largest yield of barley was obtained 

 with sodium nitrate, followed In order by ammonium sulphate, dried blood, 

 and tankage. The yields with alfalfa, vetch, and Canada field peas did not 



