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48 REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE 
But so far are we as yet from knowing by careful experiment the 
relative value of the several constituents of food in the production + 
of, for example, butter, beef or pork, that we are unable to fixa _ 
relative value upon these various foods with the differences of 
composition of which chemical analysis has made us familiar. ‘ 
The problem is similar in character to an attempt to place a 
crop-producing value upon potash, phosphoric acid or nitrogen; 
a problem which no agricultural chemist, or few at most, would — 
attempt to solve. Numerous carefully conducted experiments — 
have demonstrated, that in certain cases some one of these three _ 
fertilizing ingredients showed a crop-producing value very many 
times in excess of either of the others, which others indeed, by - 
comparison, were in this particular case shown to be without 
value. ; me 
Immense crops have been grown on lands practically barren, — ; 
4 
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by the addition only of an abundant supply of available phos- 
phoric acid, crops which were not appreciably increased when 
potash and nitrogen compounds were added, and, in like manner, 
compounds of potash have produced enormous increase in yield 
of crop, which was. not further increased when phosphoric acid _ 
and nitrogen compounds were added to the potash ; and the same 
has been shown in many other cases to be true of the compounds iy 
of nitrogen. ' 
It is therefore manifestly as impossible to place a relative crop-_ 
producing value upon the several fertilizing constituents, phos- 
phoric acids, potash and nitrogen, as it is upon the butter, beef 
or pork producing value of the several nutritive constituents of 
the various foods. . 
Of late, and with good reason, there has been repeated atten- 
tion called to the value of the fertilizing constituents in these i 
foods, which, in the aggregate, amounts to a very large percent- 
age of the market value of the foods, and in some cases fully ~ ce 
equals it. Indeed, so well is this fact recognized by the manu- 
facturers of commercial fertilizers, thatsome of them have been 
accustomed to use certain of these foods, as cotton-seed meal and 
malt sprouts for example, as constituents of their fertilizers, 
furnishing as these do, at reasonable cost, a large per cent of 
nitrogen and very appreciable amounts of phosphoric acid and — 
potash. It follows, therefore, that, if these manufacturers can 
afford to use these foods, sacrificing entirely their very great value 
Alas ale & 
