15 



credits, and profits. Anyone so disposed can figure out the 

 percentage difference for himself on any fertilizer he may buy. 



The term "commercial shortage" applied to any fertilizer 

 means that it does not contain as much fertilizer material on a 

 money basis as was guaranteed. Thus, the 4 percent of organic 

 nitrogen, 6 percent of soluble phosphoric acid and 4 percent of 

 potash in the fertilizer just referred to has a money value of $24. 

 Now if this fertilizer did not quite test up to its several guaran- 

 tees, it might only furnish $23 worth of fertihty, and the differ- 

 ence of $1 would be the commercial shortage. 



Raw Products and Chemicals. 



Forty-five samples of ground bone, represent- 

 Ground ing thirty-two analyses, have been collected 



Bone. and appear in this bulletin. Seven were 



found deficient in phosphoric acid and one in 

 nitrogen. In all but one case a low phosphoric acid was more 

 than made up by an overrun of nitrogen. Bone will vary in com- 

 position more or less depending upon the amount of nitrogenous 

 matter adhering to it. A high nitrogen denotes the presence of 

 rather more than the normal amount of such material, and a 

 high phosphoric acid indicates the presence of less nitrogenous 

 matter with a correspondingly lower nitrogen percentage. 

 Steamed bones from which the glue has been extracted contain 

 less nitrogen and more phosphoric acid than kettle-rendered bones. 

 The average retail cash price for ground bone has been $32.63 

 and the average commercial valuation as calculated by the table 

 of trade values has been $29.24. Only one of the brands showed 

 a small commercial shortage. Ground bone has averaged 3.12 

 percent nitrogen, 75.32 percent of which has been found active 

 by the alkaline permanganate method. 



Twenty-eight samples of tankage have been 



Ground inspected, in some cases duphcate samples 



Tankage. being procured in different parts of the state. 



Whenever this has occurred an analysis has 



been made of a composite sample, so that only nineteen analyses 



have been made. Four samples were found deficient in phosphoric 



acid and four in nitrogen. The average retail cash price for 



tankage has been $33.19, and the average commercial valuation 



as calculated by the tables of trade values has been $33.05 per 



ton. Tankage has averaged 6.58 percent total nitrogen, of which 



75.38 percent has been found active by the alkaline permanganate 



method. 



Nitrogen in fine tankage has cost on the average 19.08 cents; 

 nitrogen in coarse tankage has cost 15.06 cents per pound. Two 



