8 BULLETIN 798, U. S. DEPAKTMEISTT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Nearly four-fif ths of the ammonia in fertilizers is thus derived from 

 the two great m^ineral sources, sodium nitrate and ammonium sul- 

 phate, together with the two principal organic sources, tankage and 

 cottonseed meal. 



The only other important source of ammonia reported is "base 

 goods," a designation which indicates that the original source is not 

 given, base goods 'being a name by which the companies call pre- 

 liminary mixtures which are stored in large bins against the time 

 when orders need to be filled and the base goods are mixed with other 

 ingredients to obtain a desired grade of goods. 



Other sources of ammonia worth mentioning are cyanamid, which 

 yielded 581,000 units of ammonia in 1917 but only 95,000 units in 

 1918, owing to the fact that this material was requisitioned by the 

 Ordnance Department; and dried blood, which accounted for 2.8 per 

 cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively, during 1917 and 1918. 



Tankage.— r-K special inquiry about the amount of tankage pro- 

 duced was sent out by the office of Fertilizer Control, and returns 

 from 503 packers and renderers were received. Table VII shows the 

 total quantity of tankage and allied materials produced during 1917 

 and 1918, and the quantity marketed in 1918 to be used as fertilizer, 

 to be used for feed, and for other purposes. 



Table VII. — Tankage and allied products -produced in 1917 and 1918 and marJceted in 



1918. 



Kind of material. 



Production, 503 



firms reporting 



(2,000-pound tons). 



1917 



1918 



Quantity marketed in 1918, 386 firms 

 reporting (2,000-pound tons). 



Total. 



As fer- 

 tilizer. 



As feed. 



For 

 other 



pur- 

 poses. 



Percentage marketed, 

 1918. 



As fer- 

 tilizer. 



As feed. 



For 

 other 

 pur- 

 poses. 



Animal tankage(high 

 grade) 



Animal tankage (low 

 grade) 



Concentrated tank- 

 age 



Garbage tankage 



Tankage (n. o. s.) 



Dried blood 



Raw bones 



Dried bones 



Hair 



Hoofs and horns 



Meat scrap 



59, 604 



24, 674 



36, 997 



7,750 



32, 007 



27, 981 



24,348 



5,617 



6,715 



3,265 



185, 839 



64,614 



25, 490 



31,718 



10,004 



35, 463 



33, 644 



21, 475 



8,754 



4,671 



3,233 



182,320 

 62,805 



103, 703 



56,239 



16, 540 

 28, 598 

 3,122 

 26, 918 

 22, 607 

 20,093 

 1,941 

 3,539 



78,187 

 5,213 

 9,481 



430 

 1,354 



77 



58 



5,671 



3,281 



5 



552 



386 

 3,549 



862 



60 



2,698 



83 



11 



56.9 



63.4 

 100 

 83.7 

 83.6 

 82.6 

 85.5 

 41.8 

 88.3 



42.9 

 8.3 

 36.3 



1.6 

 1.5 

 17.4 

 12.3 



9.6 

 99.7 



0.2 



2.2 



.3 



14.7 

 14.9 



3.2 



58.2 



2.1 



.3 



The 503 firms for which returns were received produced 157,000 

 tons of high-grade tankage in 1917 and 186,000 tons in 1918. The 

 quantity of low-grade tankage was about one-third of the amount 

 of high-grade tankage, and in addition there were about 25,000 

 tons of concentrated tankage in each of the two years 1917 and 

 1918, and about 35,000 tons of garbage tankage, with a certain 

 amount of tankage the character and quality of which were not 



