PURCHASING PLANT-FOOD 



acid, and potash, on the unit. This is done 

 for convenience. If five cents is a fair price 

 for a pound of available phosphoric acid in one's 

 locality, as it would be if a ton of 14 per cent acid 

 phosphate cost $14, a unit of 20 pounds is 

 worth $1. Each one per cent guaranteed is thus 

 worth a dollar, and the phosphoric acid in the fer- 

 tilizer is easily valued. If a pound of potash in a 

 ton of muriate is worth five cents in one's locality, 

 as it would be if a ton of muriate cost $50, the 

 muriate being one half actual potash, a unit of 

 20 pounds of potash is worth $1. Each one per 

 cent of guaranteed potash is thus worth one dol- 

 lar, and the entire content of potash is easily 

 valued. If a pound of nitrogen in nitrate of soda 

 is worth seventeen and one half cents a pound in 

 one's locality, as it would be if a ton of nitrate of 

 soda cost $54, a unit, or one per cent, is worth 

 $3.50, and the content of nitrogen is easily valued. 

 The prices named would seem high to good cash 

 buyers near the seaboard, and they are too low 

 for some other regions where freights are very 

 high. They are only illustrative. The consumer 

 can get his own basis for an estimate by obtaining 

 the best possible cash quotations from city dealers. 

 Some interested critic may point out that nitrate 



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