FERTILIZER PRACTICE 559 



this proved effective in preventing fraud, but it is really 

 a great advantage to the honest manufacturer. 



The expenses for the inspection and control of fertilizers 

 are usually defrayed by the license fees, which average 

 for the different states from ten to twenty dollars a year 

 for each brand selling for $5 or more a ton. In the 

 eastern states this fee produces a net return greatly in 

 excess of the expenses incurred by the fertilizer inspection 

 and control, and consequently has become the source of 

 a handsome income for these states. 



472. Trade values of fertilizers. — It has become cus- 

 tomary for the authorities charged with fertilizer inspec- 

 tion and control in the various states to adopt each year 

 a schedule of the trade values of the various elements as 

 they appear on the market in unmixed lots. These 

 values are obtained by averaging all the wholesale prices 

 of a ton for the various unmixed supplies for the six 

 months preceding March 1, to which is added 20 per cent 

 of the price to cover cost of handling. The trade values 

 for 1912 were as follows : l — 



Trade Values of Plant-food Elements in Raw Ma- 

 terials and Chemicals 



Cents a pound 



Nitrogen in ammonia salts 18^ 



Nitrogen in nitrates . . . . . . . . . . 18^ 



Organic nitrogen in dry and fine fish, meat, and blood 20 

 Organic nitrogen in fine bone, tankage, and mixed 



fertilizer 19 



Organic nitrogen in coarse bone and tankage . . 15 

 Organic nitrogen in castor pomace and cottonseed 

 meal 20 



1 New York (Geneva), Agr. Exp. Sta., Bui. 371, p. 434. 1913. 



