336 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



guaninty of composition on each package ; and to look with 

 suspicion, at least, upon all fertilizers with a wide margin in 

 the guaranteed composition, until otherwise convinced that 

 the article is worth the amount charged. 



The samples of fertilizers which served for the analyses 

 reported upon subsequent pages have been collected, with 

 but two or three exceptions, in the general markets and in 

 accordance with our State laws, by a responsible and compe- 

 tent party. 



Valuation of Fertilizers. 



The valuation which accompanies the analysis of a fertil- 

 izer should inform the consumer, as far as practicable, regard- 

 ing the cash retail price at which the several specified ele- 

 ments of plant food, in an efficient form, have been offered 

 for sale in our principal markets at the beginning of the 

 season. 



The market value of manurial substances, as bones, salt, 

 ashes, various compounds of lime, barnyard manure, factory 

 refuse and waste materials of difierent description, quite 

 frequently does not stand in a close relation to their chemi- 

 cal composition. Their cost varies in different localities. 

 Local facilities for cheap transportation, and more or less 

 advantageous mechanical condition for a speedy action, ex- 

 ert, as a rule, a decided influence on their selling price. 



The market reports of centres of trade in New England, 

 New York and New Jersey, aside from consultations with 

 leading manufacturers of fertilizers, have furnished us the 

 necessary information regarding the current trade value of 

 fertilizing ingredients. 



The subsequent statement of cash values in the retail 

 trade is obtained by taking the average of the wholesale quo- 

 tations in New York and Boston during the six months pre- 

 ceding March 1, 1886, and increasing them 20 per cent., to 

 cover expenses for sales, credits, etc. 



These trade values, except those for phosphoric acid sol- 

 uble in ammonium citrate, were agreed upon by the Experi- 

 ment Stations of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New 

 Jersey, for use in their several States for the last season. 



