INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

 (b) Tonnage of Unmixed Fertilizing Materials. 



The tonnage of unmixed materials was distributed as follows: nitrogen prod- 

 ucts, 39 per cent; phosphoric acid products, 26 per cent; potash products, 5 

 per cent; tankage, fish, bone, nitrate of potash, ammo-phos, tobacco stems, and 

 wood ashes, 16 per cent; and miscellaneous, 14 per cent. 



Ten of the most popular grades of mixed fertilizer are listed in the following 

 table in comparison with a similar list for 1933. 



The five fertilizer grades sold during 1934 in Massachusetts in the largest 

 tonnage were likewise recorded and in the same order during 1933, as will be 

 seen from the above table. The 4-8-8 had the sixth largest tonnage in 1934. 

 This grade which in composition is very similar to the 4-8-7, differing only by a 

 one per cent increase in potash, very likely reflects the advertising propaganda 

 of the potash exporters. It is questionable whether the 4-8-8 grade would on 

 the average in Massachusetts prove more effective than would the 4-8-7 grade. 



The tobacco grades 6-3-6 and 5-3-5, which had the seventh and eighth largest 

 tonnage in 1933, dropped to twelfth and eleventh place, respectively; due largely, 

 no doubt, to the curtailment in acreage devoted to this crop in 1934. Only 

 2,092 acres of tobacco were grown in Massachusetts in 1934, 1,696 acres being 

 grown under contract with the government and 396 acres not under contract; 

 5,154 acres were rented to the government on which no tobacco was grown. 

 There was about a 75 per cent reduction in the tobacco acreage in Massachusetts 

 in 1934. The seventh and eighth places were held this year by the 3-10-4 and 

 5-8-10 grades, which in 1933 occupied sixth and ninth place respectively. 



The 4-12—4 grade, which had the tenth largest tonnage in 1933, was in the 

 ninth place during the past year. The 8-16-16 grade, which is a double strength 



