44 CONTROL SERIES No. 105 



DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS RELATING 

 TO FERTILIZERS 



The following definitions and interpretations have been adopted as official by 

 vote of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists of North America. 



Definitions 



An acid-forming fertilizer is one that is capable of increasing the residual 

 acidity of soil. 



Acidulated fish tankage, acidulated fish scrap, is the rendered product 

 derived from fish and treated with sulfuric acid. 



Activated sewage products are those made from sewage freed from grit and 

 coarse solids and aerated after being inoculated with microorganisms. The re- 

 sulting flocculated organic matter is withdrawn from the tanks, filtered with or 

 without the aid of coagulants, dried, ground, and screened. 



Agricultural liming material is material whose calcium and magnesium 

 content is capable of neutralizing soil acidity. 



Air-slaked lime is a product composed of variant proportions of the oxide, 

 hydroxide and carbonate of calcium, or of calcium and magnesium, and derived 

 from exposure of quick lime. 



Ammoniated superphosphate is the product obtained when superphosphate 

 is treated with ammonia or with a solution containing free ammonia and other 

 forms of nitrogen dissolved therein. 



The word analysis, as applied to fertilizer, shall designate the percentage com- 

 position of the product expressed in those terms that the law requires and permits. 



Ashes from leached wood are unleached ashes resulting from burning wood 

 that has been exposed to or digested in water or other liquid solvent, as in the 

 extraction of dyes, so that a part of the plant food has been dissolved and removed. 



Available phosphoric acid is the sum of the water-soluble and the citrate- 

 soluble phosphoric acid. 



"Basic" lime phosphate (lime-based superphosphate) is a superphos- 

 phate to which liming materials have been added in a quantity at least six per 

 cent (6%) calcium carbonate equivalents in excess of the quantity required to 

 convert all water-soluble phosphate to the citrate-soluble form. 



Basic phosphate slag is a by-product in the manufacture of steel from phos- 

 phatic iron ores. The product shall be finely ground and shall contain no ad- 

 mixture of materials other than what results in the original process of manufacture. 

 It shall contain not less than twelve per cent (12%) of total phosphoric acid 

 (P 2 6 ), not less than eighty per cent (80%) of which shall be soluble in two per 

 cent (2%) citric acid solution according to the Wagner method of analysis. Any 

 phosphate slag not conforming to this definition shall be designated low grade. 



Bat guano is partially decomposed bat manure. 



Bat manure is the dry excrement of bats. 



A brand is a term, design, or trademark used in connection with one or several 

 grades of fertilizers. 



A brand name is a specific designation applied to an individual fertilizer. 



Calcium nitrate (nitrate of lime) is a commercial product consisting chiefly 

 of calcium nitrate, and it shall contain not less than fifteen per cent (15%) of 

 nitrogen. 



Charred peat is peat artificially dried at a temperature that causes partial 

 decomposition. 



