No. 123.] REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 13 



Little relief is anticipated from the hif;;h prices of mixed fer- 

 tilizers which have prevailed during the past few years. Al- 

 thou^di some manufacturers have not as yet sent out their 

 traveling agents, there seems to be very little difference between 

 prices of the sime quality of fertilizer quoted by different man- 

 ufacturing companies. It seems to be a good year to favor 

 home mixing. Savings to the farmer of from .fl5 to $17 per 

 ton on a 5-3-5 mixture (ammonia, available phosphoric acid, 

 water soluble potash) which is used largely for tobacco, in 

 about the same proportion on a 4-8-4 mixture which is used 

 for onions, are predicted by men prominent in this specialty. 

 This will probably hold true with most mixed fertilizers. 



To summarize the situation, it seems that there is not a lib- 

 eral supply of raw materials. Particularly is this true of acid 

 phosphate, due to the long-continued strike in the South. It is 

 questioned whether the high price for this important material is 

 entirely due to a shortage in the supply. The foreign demand 

 for sulphate of ammonia has so increased the demand on our 

 fertilizer concerns that the supply is nearly all sold. Cotton 

 seed meal and animal ammoniates, such as dried blood and 

 tankage, are not in liberal supply. 



Potash compounds are certain to be more freely offered than 

 last season, although market reports indicate that the supply of 

 domestic potash has been fairly well sold up until the first of 

 January. The labor situation in the potash fields, and the coal 

 shortage with resulting curtailment in shipping, does not prom- 

 ise much relief from this quarter. 



In view of the fact that potash and nitrate of soda are both 

 bound to be somewhat lower, it does seem as though mixed 

 fertilizers ought to be below the price asked for them in 1919. 

 There is question whether the increased cost of acid phosphate 

 and the new labor and transportation troubles with which the 

 manufacturers have to contend will counterbalance the low cost 

 of potash and nitrate. At any rate, prices for mixed goods, so 

 far as can be ascertained, lead one to conclude that such mix- 

 tures are likely to be held somewhere near the price asked for 

 them a year ago. 



The abstract below, taken from a summary of the fertilizer 

 industry. United States Bulletin 798, hits upon a phase of the 

 fertilizer problem which is indeed interesting: — 



