INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

 (b) Tonnage of Unmixed Fertilizing Materials. 



' The number of brands is omitted where it is less than five. 



A study of the preceding tables and their comparison with previous years 

 shows some interesting facts. As evidenced by the tonnage sold, the three most 

 popular brands were the same as during the past two seasons, namely 5-8-7, 

 4-8-4 and 3-8-4. The grade having the fourth largest tonnage was the 5-3-5 

 tobacco brand (listed in the low-analysis grades) which takes the place of the 

 5-4-5 grade which showed the fourth largest tonnage during 1926 and 1927. 

 This change was very hkely the result of a report of the Connecticut Tobacco 

 Station, Bulletin 7, favoring a reduction in the phosphoric acid content of tobacco 

 fertilizers. The 5-4-5 brand, however, showed the sixth largest tonnage for the 

 year and the combined tonnage of the 5-3-5 and 5-4-5 grades was over 1,000 tons 

 in excess of that for the 5-4-5 grade in 1927. The 4-6-10 grade occupies the 

 fifth position in respect to tonnage sold, the same as in 1927. The 6-3-6 and the 

 7-3-7 grades occupy the position of seventh and eighth, their combined tonnage 

 nearly reaching the 3,000 mark. These two grades are also designed for tobacco 

 culture, particularly on old tobacco land, and emphasize the very commendable 

 attempt to get away from the uneconomical mixtures represented by the 5-3-5 

 and 5-4-5 grades. 



The 4-8-7 and 8-6-6 grades have been demoted from the sixth and seventh 

 position which they occupied in 1927, to ninth and tenth. The 8-6-6 grade is, 

 however, still holding its own in respect to tonnage sold, while the 4-8-7 has 

 declined nearly 400 tons as compared with 1927. This class has apparently 

 been largely absorbed by the 5-8-7 grade, the most popular of all, which shows 

 an increase of 343 tons over the previous season. 



With reference to the double strength grades, the 10-16-14 was advanced 

 from eighteenth largest tonnage sold in Massachusetts in 1927 to the fourteenth 

 largest this season, 548 tons having been reported by seven manufacturers. 

 The 8-16-8 grade suffered a decline of 35 tons and the 8-16-20 tonnage was 



