Inspection of Commercial Fertilizers 



This report presents the data obtained in connection with 

 the annual inspection of commercial fertilizers made by 

 the State Department of Agriculture, under the direction 

 of Mr. Andrew L. Felker, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 Mr. Eugene D. Sanborn, State Inspector, visited nearly 

 every section of the state and collected samples of 100 dif- 

 ferent brands. 



A careful study of the analyses and prices of the various 

 brands offered for sale in the state demonstrates that in 

 order to purchase economically it is necessary to know what 

 the analysis means and how to calculate the relative values 

 of the different brands of fertilizers. The following illus- 

 tration will be sufficient to demonstrate the wisdom of 

 careful selection of fertilizers. During the past season one 

 brand of 16 per cent acid phosphate, which contained 16.60 

 per cent available phosphoric acid sold for $50 per ton, 

 and another brand of 16 per cent acid phosphate, which 

 contained 16.74 per cent of available phosphoric acid sold 

 for $25 per ton. The value of the material was the same, 

 but the price of one brand was twice that of the other. It 

 is with the hope that the purchaser of fertilizers will be 

 aided in making his selections that the following discussion 

 of the meaning of the analysis is presented. 



MEANING OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



There are three of the ten elements essential for plant 

 growth which are most apt to be lacking in sufficient avail- 

 able quantity for best crop growth in our usual soils. These 

 are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Sometimes cal- 

 cium and sulphur may be deficient, but because these defi- 

 ciencies have apparently not been so marked and wide 

 spread our fertilizer practices have dealt mostly with the 

 application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The 

 value of commercial fertilizers depends, therefore, upon 

 their available content of these three elements. For this 



