243, FERTILIZERS 
ton. That brings the cost of plant food per 
pound to 74 cents instead of 104 cents as in the 
cheap grade. The manufacturer has added 
$8.00 worth of potash to the mixture and 
has taken out some of the worthless filler, so 
that the extra cost in money to you is only 
$5.00. 
The increase in yield more than offsets that 
extra cost. There are still other potash fertil- 
izers that contain no nitrogen, the lower grades 
selling for about $16 per ton, and the higher 
grades for $20 per ton. The plant food in the 
lower grade costs 6% cents per pound and in the 
high grade only a tiny fraction over 54 cents per 
pound. If you are spending your money for 
commercial fertilizers, you will find that the best 
is the cheapest. No matter what the mixture, 
if you figure it out, you will find that the high 
grade costs less per pound for plant food than 
the low grade. And it is plant food you are 
after, not worthless filler. 
The New York Experiment Station in one of 
its bulletins offers the following comment on this 
point: “ The high-grade goods sell on an average 
nearer to their actual plant-food value than do 
the low-grade goods. In general, the higher the 
grade of the goods, the lower the cost of each 
pound of plant food.” 
