COMMKKCIAL FKRTILIZHUS II5 



unit system almost entirely. Tankage, bone products, blood, 

 azotin, steamed horn and hoof meal, potash salts, nitrogenous 

 salts, superphosphates, dry ground fish, raw rock phosphates, 

 cotton-seed meal, castor pomace, etc., are all purchased on the 

 unit basis. For example, muriate of potash will be quoted at 80 

 cents a unit. This means that the actual potash in muriate of 

 potash will cost 80 cents for 20 pounds, or 4 cents for one pound. 

 Dried blood perhaps will be quoted at $3.30 per unit of nitrogen. 

 This means that 20 pounds of nitrogen in dried blood will cost 

 $3.30, or i6j/2 cents for one pound. 



In the unit system of purchasing and selling, the buyer and 

 seller usually employ a competent neutral chemist to draw a 

 representive sample of the material and settlement is made on 

 the chemist's findings. This is indeed an excellent system because 

 the buyer pays for just what is present in the material and the 

 seller receives compensation for what his product contains. It 

 may be said that this system is very satisfactory to the fertilizer 

 trade. 



2. The ton basis of purchase is the one commonly used by the 

 manufacturer, dealer, etc., in selling to the consumer. The pro- 

 ducts, both mixed and unmixed, are sold to the consumer at a 

 fixed price per ton of 2,000 pounds. This system is not as 

 satisfactory as the unit system because the purchaser does not 

 always receive a stipulated amount of the constituents contracted 

 for. To be sure, the manufacturers guarantee their products 

 to contain given amounts of fertilizer constituents and aim to 

 meet or even to exceed their guarantees, but sometimes the 

 fertilizers do not reach them in every particular. The prices of 

 the fertilizers sold on the ton basis to the consumer do not usually 

 fluctuate with the market, as the manufacturer tries to fix a 

 price that will guard against loss, although many of them sell 

 their fertilizers at times with very small and sometimes no profit 

 when they have a large stock which they do not wish to carry over 

 for another season. 



Fertilizer Laws. — In order to protect the consumer and the 

 honest manufacturer, several states have passed laws regulating 



