1921.] 



Marketing of Poultry and Eggs. 



843 



tinued to arrive. At the present time there is no question that 

 all the superphosphate required for agriculture for the autumn 

 and spring seasons of 1921-22 will be forthcoming, and at very 

 much lower prices than have been possible hitherto. 



Superphosphate is now on sale throughout the United Kingdom 

 at about 8s. 3d. per unit of water soluble phosphate, a price 

 which is based on the current cost of importing the raw materials 

 required for its manufacture. In making this important reduc- 

 tion in price, the manufacturers are bearing a heavy loss on the 

 large stocks of raw materials which were imported prior to the 

 recent fall in freight rates, and are still held by them. 



It is well known that superphosphates as such, and as con- 

 tained in compound fertilisers, stand alone in providing a form of 

 " water soluble " phosphate which confers certain special benefits 

 on the young crop, unobtainable from phosphates in any other 

 form. Water soluble phosphate dissolves in the first rain, 

 percolating through the soil and becomes precipitated in 

 extremely fine particles where the earliest roots of the crop 

 are or will be penetrating. In this condition it has a most 

 valuable stimulating effect on root development, especially for 

 shallow-rooted crops like swedes, turnips and kindred fallow 

 crops, and barley, and it has been the experience of farmers 

 that nothing assists the establishment of a crop so much as 

 a small amount of superphosphate with or near the seed. Super- 

 phosphate is thus particularly associated with arable farming. 



It should not be assumed that the water soluble content of 

 superphosphate and of compound fertiliser, forms the total 

 phosphate which the materials contain. In the case of super- 

 phosphate, BO per cent, water soluble, there is in addition about 

 2 per cent, other phosphates that are not counted in reckoning 

 the price per unit, which is based only on the water soluble 

 phosphnfe. With compound fertilisers, the total phosnhate 

 content is brought into account, the water soluble content being 

 charged at about 4s. per unit, citric solnble phosphate at 8s. 

 per unit, and insoluble phosphate (so-called") at 2s. per unit. 



Recent inquiries made by the Ministry in the markets of 



London, Birmingham and various provincial towns show that 



m , „ , . the methods generally adopted in the 



The Marketing oi . * i. j 



^ , t , * marketing of poultry and eggs are verv 

 Poultry and Eggs. .. , 8 , F mu *. 



J && unsatisfactory. The reason appears to be 



the absence of proper organisation and of correct marketing 



