1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 229 



potash declined during the middle of May. Bones, refuse 

 bone-black and crude phosphate rock have remained 

 unchanged in price since January 1. Muriate of potash 

 and kainite held their own, while sulphate of ammonia 

 advanced somewhat. Judging from present indications, 

 some changes regarding the cost of commercial fertilizers 

 may be expected for the coming season. 



The duties assigned to the director of the station, to act 

 as inspector of commercial fertilizers, render it necessary 

 to discriminate, in official publications of the results, of 

 analyses of commercial fertilizers and of manurial sub- 

 stances in general made at the station, between analyses 

 of samples collected by a duly qualified delegate of the 

 experiment station, in conformity with the rules prescribed 

 by the new laws, and those analyses which are made of 

 samples sent on for that purpose by outside parties. In 

 regard to the former alone can the director assume the 

 responsibility of a carefully prepared sample, and of the 

 identity of the article in question. 



The official report of analyses of compound fertilizers 

 and of all such materials as are to be used for manurial 

 purposes, which are sold in this State under a' certificate of 

 compliance with the present laws for the regulation of the 

 trade in these articles, has been restricted by our State laws 

 to a statement of chemical composition, and to such addi- 

 tional information as relates to the latter. The practice of 

 affixing to each analysis of this class of fertilizers an 

 approximate commercial valuation per ton of their princi- 

 pal constituents has, therefore, been discontinued. This 

 change, it is expected, will tend to direct the attention of 

 the consumers of fertilizers more forcibly towards a consid- 

 eration of the particular composition of the different brands 

 of fertilizers offered for their patronage, — a circumstance 

 not unfrequently overlooked. 



The approximate market value of the different brands of 

 fertilizers, obtained by the current mode of valuation, does 

 not express their respective agricultural value, i.e., their 

 crop-producing value ; for the higher or lower market 

 price of different brands of fertilizers does not necessarily 

 Stand in a direct relation to their particular fitness, without 



