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are tabulated the results of the analyses of oue hundred and twelve 

 brands of fertilizers sold iu that St^ate. While showing still consider- 

 able deficiencies in imjiortant chemical constituents, there is a manitest 

 improvement in the character of the articles sold. In addition to the 

 chemical test, many intelligent planters are subjecting them to a careful 

 soil-test, under regulations prescribed by the commissioner, a careful 

 record of which will be published from time to time. The commercial 

 values of the leading chemical elements of these fertilizers average 

 about as follows : Nitrogen, (equivalent of ammonia,) 22 cents per 

 pound ; available phosphoric acid, 15J cents ; insoluble phosphoric acid, 

 4^ cents; potash, 6^ cents. 



The analyses in the circular " show an almost exact, and, in some in- 

 stances, a complete correspondence in the composition of fertilizers sold un- 

 der different names." During the season ending May 1,48,648 tons of these 

 compounds were sold in Georgia, at an average of $51 per ton, amounting 

 to $2,481,048. " The best acid phosphates can be purchased at $40 per 

 ton. Using 500 pounds of acid phosphates to the ton, composted with 

 cotton-seed and manure, it will be necessary to purchase only one-fourth 

 the commercial material to make the same number of tons of equal 

 agricultural value. Only 1^162 tons of acid phosphate would be re- 

 quired to make all the fertilizers used in Georgia, which, at $40 per ton, 

 would involve an outlay of only $486,480," saving annually $1,994,568, 

 besides the freight on 36,486 tons, at $5 per ton, amounting to $182,430. 

 The total saving thus indicated is $2,176,998, or more than the aggre- 

 gate taxable property of 102 of the 137 counties of the State. It will 

 average $15,883 to every county, and over $50 to every farmer in Geor- 

 gia." It is more than twice the annual State tax ; it would pay the 

 whole State debt in four years ; it amounts to 7 per cent, of the annual 

 value of the cottou-crop ; it will pay, in one year, the expenses of the 

 State department of agriculture for one hundred and fifty years. 



Improved cotton-gin. — Mr. H. A. Stearns, of Pawtucket, E. I., has 

 invented a cotton-roller-gin that is considered a great improvement on 

 the common saw-gins now in use. It does not injure the fiber by cut- 

 ting, tearing, or napping ; cleaning the seed more perfectly than any 

 other gin, with a smaller amount of power, and entire freedom from 

 danger of fire while in operation. Mr. Stearns has had many years' 

 experience as a manufacturer of cotton, and is well acquainted with its 

 nature, quality, and value. It has received two diplomas from the 

 Georgia State Agricultural Society; one "for the best improvement in 

 cotton-gins," the other " for the most important improvement relating to 

 agriculture." A Georgia paper states that on test-trials of the gin there 

 was an average saving of fifty pounds of lint to the bole, and of far 

 better staple than that from any of the common saw-gins. 



British imports of breadstuffs. — The imports of breadstuffs 

 into the United Kingdom during the first six months of 1874 and 1875 

 are thus stated in the board of trade report : 

 5 A 



