No. 4.] HOW TO BUY FERTILIZERS. 223 



contain 15.65 x 20 = 313 pounds of nitrogen, and should 

 be worth $51.04 per ton. 



If this simple method of figuring fertilizer values were 

 universally used farmers would often find that they were 

 paying too much for their fertilizing ingredients when 

 bought in some of the mixed goods having a low analysis. 

 These '' cheap " brands are the most expensive to buy. A 

 ton of 2-8-2 fertilizer costs just as much to mix, ship, 

 handle and to bag as a 4-8-10, but its value will be barely 

 half as much. It must be evident that freight is being paid 

 in the former case on a large amount of unnecessary material 

 on account of the lower analysis of some of the ingredients 

 used in their manufacture. High-grade ready-mixed goods, 

 on the contrary, are often as economical for the farmer as 

 unmixed chemicals. 



Finally, in buying fertilizers, buying the raw materials 

 and mixing them at home Avill sometimes be found to be eco- 

 nomical. A shovel, a sand screen and a tight floor are the 

 only essentials ; provided, of course, that certain of the chem- 

 icals are reground just before using them. Care must be 

 taken, however, not to mix the materials just as they are 

 needed, as otherwise many of them are sure to become hard 

 and difficult to handle. 



The bags in which original shipments of nitrate of soda, 

 sulphate of ammonia, and potash salts are made are particu- 

 larly likely to be torn because of the hardening of the con- 

 tents. In such cases more or less material is wasted. Some 

 of it is also absorbed and held in the bags in which it is 

 shipped. These losses, and the necessity of cash payment 

 for chemicals, must be considered in comparison with the 

 good drillable condition of ready-mixed goods even after long 

 storage, the shipment in sound new bags, the extension of 

 reasonable credit, and the fact that the ammonia is less sub- 

 ject to loss by leaching than when wholly from nitrate of 

 soda, as it frequently is in home-mixed goods. 



