238 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



values, but also in many cases decidedly uiisrepresent the commercial 

 values. It is on this account that they have so generally fallen into 

 disuse or been discarded in England and Germany, 



For the present purpose, another method, which has been proposed 

 in the Connecticut station reports, is more fitting. It consists in com- 

 paring the different materials by the costs of the ingredients per pound.* 



So weighty a matter as this demands full consideration. I therefore 

 give here a table, in which are stated the composition and prevailing 

 market-price per ton, a considerable number of the more important com- 

 mercial fertilizers in our markets, and the costs per pound of the 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in each at the prices named. 

 Those designated by Arabic numerals were analyzed under the writer's 

 direction. The others are taken from dealers' price-lists. Where several 

 prices are given for the same article, the lower ones apply to smaller 

 and the higher to larger lots. 



* See Appendix for details of method of these calculations and for tables of analy- 

 ses of a number of commercial fertilizers. 



