149 



uvailrtblo to fannci-s of Teiinossoe. made -with the piirposG of point- 

 ing out thoir "' oliaractcristic and valuable fealures,-' in order that 

 farnieis may have a " basis for the more intelligent purchase and 

 use of fertilizei's."" The samples analyzed were either sent to the 

 Station by the Commissioner of Agriculture, or inquiring farmers, 

 or furnished by dealers and manufacturers. The nature and uses 

 of fertilizers are explained and the trade values for 1888 as adopted 

 by the stations in Connecticut, New Jerse}^, and Pennsylvania stated. 

 I-Jesults ai'e given of the analyses of tAventy-four kinds of com- 

 jiiercial fertilizers, and of cotton-sepd meal, cotton-hull ashes, plaster, 

 marl, Thomas slag, tankage, animal manures, and tannery Avaste. 

 According to the State act regarding the sale and inspection of com- 

 mercial fertilizers, the full text of which is printed in the bulletin, 

 all fertilizers sold within the State are to bear, plainly printed on the 

 bag or package, a statement of their chemical composition. The 

 State laAv also provides that the Commissioner of Agriculture shall 

 jirescribe a given per cent of ammonia, potash, and available phos- 

 lihoric acid Avhich the fertilizers nuist contain. At present the 

 requirement is '' that ackl phoi^phate.s or disHolced hones (not ain- 

 moniated) must contain not less than 12 per cent of available phos- 

 plioric acid; and all ammoniated snperjjhoHphates must contain not 

 less than 8 per cent of available j^hosphoric acid, 2 per cent of am- 

 monia, and 1 per cent of potash; or if they contain less than 2 per 

 cent of ammonia or less than 1 per cent of jiotash. they must then 

 contain not less than 10 per cent of availal)le ])hosphoric acid." At- 

 tention is called to the necessity of utilizing all available waste prod- 

 ucts. " It is not good economy to buy commercial fertilizers at $2-5 

 to $40 per ton and allow the manure piles of the farm to lie exposed 

 to the leaching effect of every rain storm." The great and rapid 

 groAvth of the cotton-seed oil industry and the utilization of the 

 cotton-seed hulls and meal are used to illustrate the value Avhich 

 nay be found in w\v,\{ arc thought to be Avaste materials. A ton of 

 cotton-seed meal has, at a loAV estimate, a trade a alue of $28.r)0, Avhile 

 a ton of cotton-hull ashes is Avorth $21). 1)7. The chief value of the 

 latter consists in their large jxM'centage of potash. 



These ashes are sent to the Northern States in hirge quantities, where fann- 

 ers have heen quick to reeo.ciiize their value, and where tliey have heeome, to a 

 certain extent, a substitute for Canadian wood aslies. As the result of rather 

 limited in(|uiry. they have not been found on sale in this State. A manii- 

 liifturing firm in West Tennessee, which produces them in large quantities, 

 writes : " They are little, if any, used in tlie neighborhood of the mills where 

 ihey are produced, but the market for this product is found in the New Eng- 

 land States, where it finds a ready sale at good figures." 



A point to be learned from a study of these facts is. that Tennessee farmers 

 can not afford to let a pound of these niatei-ials go beyond the borders of the 

 State. Why send this nitrogen, this phosphoric acid, and this potash away to 

 ibe North and then purchLis<' the Siinie articles in fertilizei-s. the costly materials 

 for which have been imported from the coasts or perhaps from beyond the seas? 



