REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



L. L. VAN SLYKE. 



I. REPORT OF ANALYSES OF .COMMERCIAL 

 FERTILIZERS FOR THE SPRING OF 1897* 



SUMMARY. 



(1) Samples collected. During the spring of 1897, the Station 

 collected 735 samples of commercial fertilizers, representing 500 

 different brands. Of these different brands, 400 were complete 

 fertilizers; of the others, 32 contained phosphoric acid and pot- 

 ash without nitrogen; 33 contained nitrogen and phosphoric acid 

 without potash; 1 contained nitrogen and potash without phos- 

 phoric acid; 31 contained phosphoric acid alone; and 3 contained 

 potash salts only. 



(2) Nitrogen. The 400 brands of complete fertilizers contained 

 nitrogen varying in amount from 0.30 to 8.08 per cent, and aver- 

 aging 2.23 per cent. The average amount of nitrogen found 

 by the Station analysis exceeded the average guaranteed amount 

 by 0.14 per cent, the guaranteed average being 2.09 per cent and 

 the average found being 2,23 per cent. 



In 293 brands of complete fertilizers, the amount of nitrogen 

 found was equal to or above the guaranteed amount^ the excess 

 varying from 0.01 to 2.73 per cent, and averaging 0.30 per cent; 



In 107 brands, the nitrogen was below the guaranteed amount, 

 the deficiency varying from 0.01 to 2.25 per cent and averaging 

 0.29 per cent. In 87 cases, the deficiency was less than 0.5 per 

 cent. 



The amount of water-soluble nitrogen varied from 0.01 to 6.25 

 per cent and averaged 0.95 per cent. 



♦Reprint of Bulletin No. 129. 



