32 



are shipped just as they are gathered from door to door; they are 

 leached somewhat from exposure. 



The New England Mineral Fertilizer and Chemi- 

 Ground Rock, cal Co. of Boston, Mass., has licensed and sold 



a product known as the "New Mineral Fertili- 

 zer." The material has the appearance of being finely ground rock 

 or fine sand which has been fortified with small amotmts of nitrate 

 of soda so that the material will show a qmck action when applied 

 to vegetation. It might be said in this connection that the nitrate 

 of soda is about the only available part of the material and furnish- 

 es a commercial value of $2.02 out of a total ton valuation of $2.30. 

 The article was guaranteed .23% phosphoric acid, no water soluble 

 potash, 1.56% total potash, and .45% nitrogen. It tested .24% 

 total phosphoric acid, .18% water soluble potash, 1.04% -acid sol- 

 uble potash and .63% nitrogen. The advertised price was $17.00 

 per ton, making the actual cost of a pound of nitrogen, insoluble 

 phosphoric acid and water soluble potash, $1.18, 15 cents and 37 

 cents respectively. The company make extravagant claims for 

 the value of the silica, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, alumina, sulfur 

 and chlorine which the material, like all ground rocks and soils, 

 contains. It is needless to say, however, that these elements are 

 found in most soils in sufficient quantity to meet the requirements 

 of vegetation and if it became necessary to supply any of them, 

 they could be had in much more soluble form and at a much less 

 cost than by purchasing ground rock at $17.00 per ton. 



Chaeacter of the Nitrogen Used. 



For many years there has been a demand for some adequate 

 and efficient method of differentiating between the active and 

 inactive forms of organic nitrogen contained in mixed commercial 

 fertilizers. Sixty or more per cent of the total nitrogen in the 

 average mixed fertilizer is derived from organic sources, and until 

 recently it has not been possible to tell the consumer much con- 

 cerning its activity or immediate availability. Heretofore there 

 has been published the nitrogen from nitrates and ammoniates as 

 well as the water soluble and water insoluble organic nitrogen. It 

 has seemed evident, however, that some of the brands contained 

 at least a portion of their nitrogen in low grade forms, but a lack 

 of a suitable method of analysis has rendered it impossible to pro- 

 cure* sufficient evidence to definitely substantiate the supposition. 

 In 1910, the chemists in charge of the fertilizer control work in 

 New England, New York and New Jersey co-operated in an effort 

 to make a careful study of the Jones' modification of the "Alkaline 

 permanganate method" and Street's "Neutral permanganate 

 method" for testing the activity of the water insoluble organic 



