AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Q81 
ical examination of a manure is more relia¬ 
ble in determining its commercial worth, 
than an actual trial on the field. Every 
reading and observing farmer knows that 
soils differ exceedingly in their nature and 
wants ; he knows that climate, weather, mode 
of tillage, kind of crops, &c., affect the yield 
of agricultural produce. It often happens 
that a worthless application to the field ap¬ 
pears to be valuable, merely because the 
weather and other conditions of vegetable 
growth have been unusually favorable. 
Again, the effects of the best manures may 
be neutralized by unfavorable circumstances. 
But chemical analysis, when skilfully per¬ 
formed, always tells a precise truth, not in 
the slightest degree influenced by any of the 
uncontrollable agencies that affect the pro¬ 
duce of the fields, and modify the estimates 
which are drawn in practice. 
But none except large farmers who make 
heavy purchases of manures, can afford to 
have them analysed. The analysis of a 
single specimen of Guano, or superphosphate 
can not be made for less than $10, and this 
sum is no mean item in the farmers’ account. 
The analyses which the dealers themselves 
publish, furnish no guaranty. It is not diffi¬ 
cult for an unscrupulous man to iciite an 
analysis for himself. 
Suppose it is made by a professional 
Chemist, we have in the first place to inquire 
the character of that Chemist. If he is in 
the habit of giving certificates to dealers in 
every variety of nostrum and cure-all, de¬ 
claring that he has analyzed their compound 
Sarsaparillas, Elixirs and Panaceas, and can 
pronounce them of the highest value for the 
purpose set forth, it is obvious that he is a 
humbug, for the analysis of a mixture of any 
half dozen common vegetable drugs, is an 
intricate business which no man of science 
will be caught pretending to be able to carry 
on to a very great extent. The respectable 
Charlatan who sells a so-called medicine, is 
very certain to get a respectable Charlatan 
to certify to its inappreciable value ! One of 
the chief manufacturers of artificial fertili¬ 
zers in this country told the writer that he 
had placed no dependence on the Chemist , 
par excellence, of our commercial Metropolis, 
because that sapient individual invariably 
stated them in such a manner, (a manner ad¬ 
mitting of the best interpretation for the 
seller,) they conveyed no definite informa¬ 
tion on-the really important points. This 
gentleman not onlyinformed me of his opinion 
but frankly expressed the same to the dis¬ 
tinguished Dr and Prof., &c. &c., who made 
the analyses. I shall have occasion by and 
by to illustrate what is meant by this vague¬ 
ness here alluded to. 
Admitting, however, that we are presented 
with the certificate of a man whose charac¬ 
ter is above all bribe or question, how do we 
know that what we buy is the thing that he 
has analyzed 1 I shall be able to show some 
discrepancies between samples sent by the 
dealers for analysis, and such as are found 
on sale in our Agricultural Stores. It must 
therefore be accepted as a general rule, that 
no reliance can be placed on the analyses 
published and paid for by dealers. However 
numerous or worthy the exceptions to this 
rule may be, the farmer can not be expected 
to know them. 
Farmers, you have but one method left for 
self-protection, and that is the following; 
look at it, and tell me if it be wrong, or adopt 
it if it be right! You must either form new 
associations, or use the Agricultural Socie¬ 
ties already existing, for the purpose of sus¬ 
taining chemical laboratories in which skilled 
chemists shall be employed to analyze every 
new manure that is made or imported, and 
not merely once, nor one sample, but re¬ 
peatedly, and specimens collected from va¬ 
rious parts of the country, and such speci¬ 
mens as are sold to the farmer. Were it 
well understood among the dealers in ma¬ 
nures, that any day their wares were liable 
to be subjected to chemical analysis, on be¬ 
half of the community, and that by means of 
the Agricultural press, these analyses would 
be placed before every one of their custom¬ 
ers, the honest ones would be obliged to use 
the greatest care to make or keep their arti¬ 
cles of uniform good quality, and the rogues 
would be compelled to shut up shop, or turn 
honest men. Until such measures are 
adopted, one half, at least, of all the money 
spent in this country for concentrated com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, will be worse than lost 
to the Farmer. 
With one well finished laboratory in the 
country, devoted to the examination of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, or even by actively em¬ 
ploying one chemist, securing him in one 
of the existing laboratories, the farmer might 
purchase genuine fertilizers at a fair rate, 
with hardly any possibility of being cheated. 
An idea of the extent of the business may 
be gathered from the following list of such 
as are on sale in our Eastern cities. I have 
affixed the prices so far as known to me. 
Peruvian Guano, No. 1.$54 60 per ton 
Ichaboe Guano... 40 00 “ 
Pacific Ocean Guano. 50 00 
Columbian Guano. 35 00(?) “ 
Mexican Guano. 
Fish Guano, Narragansett Co.’s. 45 00 “ 
Poudrette, Lodi Co.’s, New York.1.50(5)2 00 per bbl. 
Poudrette, Liebig Man,Co., E. Hart. Ct.l.50(5)2 00 “ 
Ta Feu, Lodi Co. 35 00 per ton 
Fish Compost, Narragansett Co. Prov. R. I. 20 00 “ 
Muriate of Lime. 10 00 “ 
Coe’s Superphosphate of Lime, Middletown. 45 00 •* 
De Burg’s No. 1 Ammoniated Superphosphate 
of Lime, New-York.. 45 00 “ 
Hildreth’s Superphosphate of Lime, N. Y... 45 00 “ 
Mapes’ Nitrogeniz’d Superphos., Newark,N.J.45 00 “ 
Hoyt’s Superphosphate... 
Cancerene. prepared from the Sea Crab, N. J. 
Chemical analysis of most of these sub¬ 
stances have recently been made by my¬ 
self or at my request, the results of which I 
purpose communicating to the public, that 
the consumers of these fertilizers may have 
some information as to their value, proceed¬ 
ing from other than the usual sources. Be¬ 
fore giving these analyses something need 
be remarked concerning the principles that 
should guide us in the valuation of a high 
priced fertilizer. 
1st. What substances are to be regarded as 
important in costly manures ? All the kinds 
of matter in the plant are of course essen¬ 
tial to its growth, and are all usefully applied 
to the soil in some cases, and generally 
speaking valuable for the soil in proportion 
as they are deficient in it. Scientifically 
speaking we can not say that ammonia or 
phosphoric acid is more valuable to any plant 
than potash, or lime is. All are indispens¬ 
able, and as plant's food are equally valuable. 
Commercially viewed however their worth 
is very various, depending on their scarcity 
and demand for them, for other than agri¬ 
cultural purposes. In my humble opinion 
there are at most but three ingredients that 
deserve to be taken into account in estima¬ 
ting the value of any manufactured or im¬ 
ported fertilizer now in market which is sold 
as high or higher than one cent per pound. 
These are Phosphoric acid, Ammonia and 
Potash. Everything else that has a fertiliz¬ 
ing value can be cheaply obtained under its 
proper name. If I want soda or chlorine, I 
buy common salt, an article whose purity I 
can judge by mere inspection, if I want sul¬ 
phuric acid, gypsum supplies me and so on. 
I incline to believe that potash too may well 
be left out of the account, because it is not 
generally deficient in soils and therefore 
farmers generally can not be expected to pay 
for it, and again it is usually present in very 
small quantities in concentrated fertilizers. 
The best Guano contains but one to three 
per cent of potash, and the inferior washed 
sorts usually less. Superphosphates, i. e. 
bones or mineral phosphate treated with sul¬ 
phuric acid, cannot if genuine be supposed 
to contain any potash of consequence. In 
other fertilizers it is not to be looked for, 
because potash in a nearly pure state or 
even as raw material, (wood-ashes,) has a 
higher commercial value for technical than 
for agricultural purposes. 
With ammonia and phosphoric acid the 
case is different. For them there is com¬ 
paratively little demand except for agricul¬ 
tural use ; besides they produce in the ag¬ 
gregate vastly greater good results as fertili¬ 
zers than any other bodies, showing they are 
more generally deficient in the soil, and fi¬ 
nally they are scarce and costly. 
Commercially regarded, ammonia is the 
most costly fertilizer, next comes potash and 
then phosphoric acid. Agriculturally con¬ 
sidered, ammonia is generally the most 
valuable, phosphoric acid next and potash 
least. 
Ammonia is worth about sixteen cents per 
pound. Its cheapest source at present is 
No. 1 Peruvian Guano. A specimen I have 
lately examined contains six per cent of 
ready formed ammonia, and animal substan¬ 
ces which by decay readily yield nine per 
cent more, making a total of fifteen per cent. 
Taking guano at its present price of fifty- 
four dollars per ton, of two thousand pounds, 
one hundred pounds costs two dollars and 
seventy cents. If we admit that ammonia 
concentrates its whole value, the $2 70 di¬ 
vided by 15 gives us 18 cents as the value of 
one pound of ammonia, if we allow the 15 
per cent of phosphoric acid existing in this 
guano to come into the estimate at two cents 
per pound, then we reduce the value of the 
ammonia to sixteen cents, (fifteen pounds 
phosphoric acid at 2 cents equals 30 cents 
which subtracted from $2 70 leaves $2 40 
this divided by 15 gives the quotient 16.) In 
sulphate of ammonia at 5i cents per pound, 
or Chili Saltpetre at 5 cents the ammonia 
