14 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The fact that from three-fourths to seven-eighths of the mixed fertil- 

 izer sold to farmers consists of inert matter which does not contribute to 

 the fertility of the soil, but on which freight must be paid and which must 

 be ground and bagged and transported, is one of the fundamentals in the 

 fertilizer industry. If a means were devised by which farmers could buy 

 practically undiluted plant food and make up their own mixtures, an 

 enormous saving would be effected, and any method that would decrease 

 the amount of inert matter carried in fertilizers would be of great benefit 

 to the agriculture of the country. The quantity of filler used is only a 

 minor phase of this problem, but perhaps the part of it which is most easily 

 susceptible of improvement while the present general methods prevail in 

 the industry. 



If a scheme could be devised to eliminate these inert ma- 

 terials, the saving in transportation charges, time and labor 

 should substantially reduce the cost to the farmers and grinders. 



There are at present between 900 and 1,000 grades of fertil- 

 izers on the market. Many of these vary so slightly in their 

 composition that no perceptible difference in plant growth could 

 be determined. A trade agreement along the line of restriction 

 in the number of grades of commercial fertilizers would be ad- 

 vantageous both to the manufacturers and to the farmers. This 

 phase of our fertilizer problem should command our serious 

 attention. 



Seed Situation. 



Seeds are the capital stock of the farmer or planter. He is 

 both a broker and an investor. In his production and consump- 

 tion of seeds, it is important that he have cognizance of the 

 market situation. The increased seed production of the United 

 States, stimulated by war conditions, causing a marked advance 

 during 1918 over the figures of 1917, has not undergone an ap- 

 preciable change during the period of reconstruction we are now 

 experiencing. A slight falling off in certain imports has been 

 compensated in our own increased production. 



Men familiar with seed growing and market conditions concur 

 in the opinion that the supply of field, general vegetable, grass 

 and clover seed is ample. The outstanding exception lies in the 

 deficiency of garden peas and beans. Although the acreage of 

 seed garden peas planted this spring was about equal to that 

 planted a year ago, adverse growing conditions, principal among 

 them being the drought sustained on account of the light snow- 



