This change, it is expected, will tend to direct the attention of the 

 consumers of fertilizers more forcibly towards a corisideration of the 

 particular composition of different brands of fertilizers offered for their 

 patronage^ a circumstance not unfrequently overlooked. 



The approximate market value of the diflferent brands of fertilizers 

 obtained by the current mode of valuation, does not express their 

 respective agricultural value, i. e., their crop-producing value, for the 

 higher or lower market price of different brands of fertilizers does 

 not necessarily stand in a direct relation to their particular fitness 

 without any reference to the particular condition of the soil to be 

 treated, and the special wants of the crops to be raised by their assist- 

 ance, nor to the particular form in which the different guaranteed 

 essential articles of plant food are best adapted. 



To select judiciously from among the various brands of fertilizers 

 offered for patronage, requires in the main, two kinds of information, 

 namely, we ought to feel confident that the particular brand of fertil- 

 izer in question actually contains the guaranteed quantities and qual- 

 ities of essential articles of plant food at a reasonable cost ; and that 

 it contains them in such form and such proportions as will best meet 

 existing circumstances and special wants. In some cases it may be 

 mainly either phosphoric acid or nitrogen or potash, in others, two of 

 them, and in others again all three. A remunerative use of commer- 

 cial fertilizers can only be secured by attending carefully to the above 

 stated consider;itions. 



To assist farmers not yet familiar with the current mode of deter- 

 mining the commercial value of manurial substances offered for sale 

 in our markets, some of the essential considerations, which serve as 

 a basis for their commercial valuation, are once more stated within a 

 few subsequent pages. 



The hitherto customary valuation of manurial substances is based 

 on the average trade value of the essential fertilizing elements speci- 

 fied by analysis. The money value of the higher grades of agricul- 

 tural chemicals and of the higher priced 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. To ascertain by this mode 

 of valuation, the approximate market value of a fertilizer, (i. e., the 

 money-worth of its essential fertilizing ingredients, ) we multiply the 

 pounds per ton of nitrogen, etc., by the trade value per pound; the 

 same course is adopted with reference to the various forms of phos- 



