1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 231 



The market value of low-priced materials used for 

 manurial purposes, as salt, wood ashes, various kinds of 

 lime, barn-yard manure, factory refuse and waste mate- 

 rials 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 advantageous mechanical 

 condition for a speedy action, exert, as a rule, a decided 

 influence on their selling price. 



The mechanical conditiotj of any fertilizing material, 

 simple or compound, deserves the most serious considera- 

 tion of larmers, when articles of a similar chemical char- 

 acter are offered for their choice. The degree of pulver- 

 ization controls, almost without exception, under similar 

 conditions, the rate of solubility, and the more or less 

 rapid diffusion of the different articles of plant food 

 throuo-hout the soil. 



The state of moisture exerts a no less important influ- 

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

 kind of substance. Two samples of tish fertilizers, although 

 equall}^ pure, may differ from flfty to one hundred per cent, 

 in commercial 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 constitu- 

 ents, taking into consideration at the same time their gen- 

 eral fitness for speedy action. 



Trade Values of Fertilizing Ingredients in Raw Ifaterials and 



Chemicals. 



1890. 



Cents per Pound. 



Nitrogen in amraoniates, 17 



Nitrogen in nitrates, . 14i 



Organic nitrogen in dry and fine ground fish, meat, blood, . 17 



Organic nitrogen in cotton-seed meal and castor pomace, . 15 



Organic nitrogen in fine ground bone and tankage, . . 16i 



Organic nitrogen in fine-ground medium bone and tankage, . 13 



Organic nitrogen in medium bone and tankage, . . . lOA 



