New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 401 



E. Aspinall, 100 Beekman St., New York City. 

 Muriate of potash. 



Bowker, Coe, Am. Agr. Cliem. Co. 



Kainit. 



Am. Agr. Chem. Co. 



Such materials as bone and acid phosphate can be purchased 

 [rom any large dealer in fertilizers. 



(2) SJiall farmers purchase luixed fertilizers or nnmixed 

 materials? 



It has been represented to farmers that peculiar virtues are 

 imparted to the elements of plant-food by proper mixing and that 

 this proper mixing can be accomplished only by means not at the 

 command of farmers. Such statements are misrepresentations, 

 based either upon the ignorance of the person who makes them 

 or upon his anxiety to sell mixed goods. Nitrate of soda, for 

 illustration, does its work in plant nutrition in exactly the same 

 manner whether it is added to the soil as part of a mixture or 

 whether the ingredients of the mixture are applied separately. 

 The availability of plant-food is not usually affected by mixing. 

 Other conditions determine whether a fertilizer shall be applied 

 in mixed form or in separate materials. 



As to the ability of farmers to mix their own fertilizers, no 

 doubt exists except in the minds of those who desire to sell goods 

 ready mixed. The main consideration that presents itself as be- 

 tween purchasing mixed and unmixed forms of plant-food is the 

 question of economy. What do the figures published above 

 show on this point? 



(a) Each pound of nitrogen in mixed fertilizers cost the farmer 

 in this State last year over 20 cents, on an average, while the 

 schedule price is 16^ cents. Hence, on an average, farmers paid 

 for their nitrogen in mixed goods, at least 25 per ct. more than 

 it would have cost them in unmixed forms. 



{b) Each pound of available phosphoric acid in mixed ferti- 

 lizers cost the farmer over 6 cents and in dissolved phosphate, 

 purchased from retail dealers, it cost about 5 cents; while, pur- 

 chased at schedule prices, it would be 4I cents ; but as a matter of 

 fact farmers were able to purchase available phosphoric acid in 

 the form of dissolved rock for even less. 



