CONTROL SERIES NO. 122 

 Serious Commercial Shortages in Mixed Fertilizers 



Average Variation from Guaranteed Analysis 



Seventeen firms have registered three or more brands of mixed fertilizers. 

 On the basis of composition found by analysis as well as of tonnage sold, the 

 following table shows to what extent each manufacturer was successful in a\'oid- 

 ing deficiencies in plant food guarantees in his mixtures. Seven of the seventeen 

 firms have an average deficiency in one or more plant food elements. 



Manufacturer 



Acme Guano Co 



American Agricultural Chemical Co 



Apothecaries Hall Co 



Armour Fertilizer Works 



Berkshire Chemical Co 



Consolidated Rendering Co 



Eastern States Farmers' Exchange .... 



Thomas W. Emerson Co 



Essex County Co-operative Farming Association 

 International Minerals & Chemical Corpoiation 



Old Deerfield Fertilizer Co.. Inc 



Olds & Whipple, Inc 



Rogers & Hubbard Co 



Smith-Douglass Co., Inc 



Standard Wholesale Phosphate & Acid Works. Inc. 

 Swift & Company Fertilizer Works .... 

 Woodruff Fertilizer \\orks, Inc 



.\verage Percentage of Plant Food 

 Above or Below the Minimum Guarantee 



Small Package Fertilizers 



During the past few years, the sale of fertilizers packaged in small containers 

 has increased greatly. Because the growers of household potted plants find the 

 one-pound or smaller packages very convenient to use, a large percentage of the 

 fertilizer sold in small lots is contained in packages of one pound or less. How- 

 ever, for small garden and lawn use, a considerable tonnage is also sold in ten- 

 pound lots of solid fertilizer and one-gallon lots of liquid fertilizer. 



Since these fertilizers carry different guarantees and are sold in packages that 

 vary a great deal in size, weight, and price, it was thought that the consumer 

 might be interested in the comparative costs of the three major elements in each 

 brand. It is realized that some of the fertilizers, especially those intended for 

 hydroponic use as well as for use on soil, are claimed to contain all elements 

 essential for plant growth; however, since practically all of the other mixed fer- 

 tilizers manufactured from ordinary commercial fertilizer ingredients also con- 

 tain all of the elements known to be necessary for plant growth, a comparison 

 based on the content of only the three elements, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 



