TREATMENT OF PERUVIAN GUANO. 263 



" However, as these facts were not suspected, and it had been the custom 

 of the trade to sell Peruvian guano according only to the ammonia it con- 

 tained, it was determined about a year ago, when the new guanos were 

 placed on this market, to adopt guano of 10 per cent, ammonia as a stand- 

 ard, and to fix the wholesale price of this grade at $55 per ton, allowing a 

 reduction of $3 per unit of ammonia (or 1 percentage of ammonia, mak- 

 ing 20 pounds of ammonia less per ton of 2,000 pounds) on all grades 

 below that standard. Formerly all guano below 13 per cent, of ammonia 

 (= 10.7 per cent, of nitrogen) was sold at the uniform price of $58.50, 

 gold, per ton ; and only when it was of a higher grade was a larger price 

 demanded for it. . . . Farmers have complained that they find stones 

 in the guano, which, to a limited extent, is true. These stones proceed 

 sometimes from the ballast of the vessels in which the guano is imported, 

 and at other times they drift from the sides of the ravines in which the 

 guano is contained in some of the southern deposits ; but what is mostly 

 looked upon as stones, is nothing but hardened or petrified guano, layers 

 of which partially cover some of the new deposits. Farmers also com- 

 plain of the lumpy condition of a portion of the raw guano, which 

 requires crushing before being used, entailing both labor and expense. 



" Scientists, on their part, contend that to place the fertilizing trade on 

 a satisfactory basis, all fertilizers should be sold according to analysis, 

 assigning to each of the fertilizing ingredients a fixed value ; and these 

 opinions are maintained with an array of arguments that cannot be con- 

 troverted. 



" Now, in order to remove all cause of complaint on the part of farmers, 

 and to meet the views expressed by scientific men, and also to silence 

 malicious reports from parties interested in the manufacture of fertilizers, 

 the undersigned have resolved to offer to the public any desired quantity 

 of Peruvian guano, in an unobjectionable form, while they will continue 

 to sell the raw guano as imported under the established terms, to those 

 who may wish to purchase it in that condition. 



" To carry out the proposed object, individual cargoes will be dealt 

 with in the following manner: — 



" The guano will, in the first place, be screened, to separate the lumps 

 and stones, if any. The latter will be taken out by hand, and the lumps 

 will be crushed by machinery. Afterwards the entire mass will be thor- 

 oughly mixed to render it uniform, and samples will be judiciously 

 selected and analyzed to test the uniformity of the mixture. This being 

 obtained, the guano will be put into bags of 200 pounds each, on one side 

 of which will be printed the usual lettering in a circular form ; viz. : — 



Warranted No. 1 Peruvian 



Guano, 



Imported into the 



U. S. by 



Hobson, Eurtado & Co., 



Agents 



for the 



Consignees of the 



Peruvian Government. 



