The article is rich in valuable constituents for feeding purposes, 

 and compares favorably with those of its kind. It seems quite 

 safe to assume the rates of digestibility noticed in wheat bran, fed 

 to cattle, which have been repeatedly stated in previous bulletins : — 

 see No. 1 1, page 5. 



VALUATION OF FERTILIZERS 



AND 



ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS. 



The valuation of a fertilizer is based on the trade value of the 

 fertilizing elements specified by analysis. The commercial, or 

 money value of the higher grades of agricultural chemicals and of the 

 higher priced, more or less compound fertilizers, depends in the 

 majority of cases on the amount and the particular form of two or 

 three essential articles of plant food, i. e., phosphoric acid, nitrogen 

 and potash, which they contain ; and on the market price of these 

 constituents at the time of sale. The valuation which usually accom- 

 panies the analyses of these goods shall inform the consumer, as far 

 as practicable, regarding the price at which tlie several specified 

 essential elements of plant food, in an efficient form, have been 

 offered of late, for sale, in the general market. 



The market value of low priced materials used for manurial pur- 

 poses, as salt, ashes, various kinds of lime, barnyard manure, factory 

 refuse and waste materials of different description, does, quite- fre- 

 quently, not stand in a close relation to their chemical composition. 

 Their cost varies in different localities. Local facilities for cheap 

 transportation and more or less advantageous mechanical condition 

 for direct application and for a speedy action, exert, as a rule, a 

 decided influence on their selling-price. 



The modes of analyses generally adopted for the examination of 

 fertilizing ingredients, are practically the same in different parts of 

 the country. The results obtained by ordinary care, wherever the 

 identity of the material for examination has been secured, answer 

 the main purpose, — to assist in an intelligent management of the 

 trade in commercial fertilizers. 



The wholesale market price of manurial substances is liable to 

 serious fluctuations ; for supply and demand exert here, as well as in 

 other branches of commercial industry, a controlling influence on 

 their temporary money value. As farmers have, only in exceptional 

 instances, a desirable chance to inform themselves regarding the con- 

 ditions which control the market price, the assistance rendered in this 

 direction, by Agricultural chemists charged with the examination of 

 commercial fertilizers, cannot otherwise than benefit, ultimately, both 

 farmers and manufacturers. 



