Purchase of Fertilizers 173 



3 tons of the average manufactured brand. Assuming 

 that the charges per pound of plant-food at the factory, 

 and the expense charges, are the same in each case, and 

 also that the quality of plant-food in the one is as good 

 as in the other, the consumer would save $8.50 by purchas- 

 ing 2 tons of the former instead of 3 tons of the 

 latter. In a few states the consumption of fertilizers 

 reaches nearly 100,000 tons annually, while in many it 

 ranges from 30,000 to 50,000 tons. 



Thus is shown the very great saving that may be 

 effected in the matter of the purchase of fertilizers from 

 the standpoint of concentration alone, or, in other words, 

 the importance of a definite knowledge of what constitutes 

 value in a fertilizer. This saving may be accomplished, 

 too, without any detriment to the manufacturer, since 

 the difference to him between making high-grade or low- 

 grade goods, in reference to concentration, is largely a 

 matter of unskilled labor. The manufacturers are in 

 the business to cater to the demands of the trade. If 

 consumers are intelligent, high-grade rather than low- 

 grade goods will be provided by the manufacturers. 

 Furthermore, as already indicated, high-grade in the 

 matter of concentration means high-grade in quality, 

 for high-grade mixtures cannot be made from low-grade 

 products. 



GENERAL ADVICE 



As farmers understand more fully the question of 

 fertilization, and as intensive methods of practice are 

 adopted, the tendency in the purchase of fertilizers will 

 undoubtedly be toward the first method, or the purchase 

 of fertilizing materials, rather than mixtures, or at any 

 rate, of high-grade special mixtures, rather than what 



