1893.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 251 



acid and of potassium oxide. We thus get the values per 

 ton of the several ingredients, and, adding them together, 

 we obtain the total valuation per ton in case of cash payment 

 at points of general distribution. 



The market value of low-priced materials used for ma- 

 nurial purposes, as salt, wood ashes, various kinds of lime, 

 barn-yard manure, factory refuse and waste materials of 

 different description, quite frequently does not stand in a 

 close relation to the market value of the amount of essential 

 articles of plant food they contain. Their cost varies in 

 different localities. Local facilities for cheap transportation, 

 and more or less advantaQi:eous mechanical condition for a 

 s^ieedy action, exert, as a rule, a decided influence on their 

 selling price. 



The mechanical condition of any fertilizing material, simple 

 or compound, deserves the most serious consideration of 

 farmers, when articles of a similar chemical character are 

 offered for their choice. The degree of pulverization con- 

 trols, almost without exception, under similar conditions, 

 the rate of solubility, and the more or less rapid diffusion of 

 the different articles of plant food throughout the soil. 



The state of moisture exerts a no less important influence 

 on the pecuniary value in case of one and the same kind of 

 substance. Two samples of fish fertilizers, although equally 

 pure, may differ from fifty to one hundred per cent, in com- 

 mercial value on account of mere difference in moisture. 



Crude stock for the manufacture of fertilizers, and refuse 

 materials of various descriptions, have to be valued with 

 reference to the market price of their principal constituents, 

 taking into consideration at the same time their general fit- 

 ness for speedy action. 



