327 
1SG9.] AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
statement. This, if faithfully carried out, ac¬ 
complishes two things—the manufacturer knows 
what he sells, and the purchaser knows what 
lie buys. In Connecticut another plan has been 
pursued. Here there is no intervention of law, 
but the Secretary of the State Board of Agri¬ 
culture collects manures which he finds for 
sale, has them analyzed, and publishes their com¬ 
position, price, and the value which the chem¬ 
ist’s analysis indicates they possess. This makes 
a stir among the manufacturers and dealers, as 
might be imagined. They would not so much 
object to the publication of the analyses, but 
to come out and say officially that fertilizers 
which they sell at $55 to $60, or even $80 a ton, 
are not worth more than $18 to $25—this is too 
much; it is too easily understood. By some 
hokus pokus, a farmer might be made to believe 
that a lack of one component is counterbalanced 
by a great supply of something else, but when 
each ingredient has a value given to it and all the 
values are summed up and the worth of a ton 
set down, there is no escaping the verdict. The 
importance of having a correct verdict, just 
towards the manufacturer and liberal towards 
the farmer, is apparent. One maker has issued 
a circular, stating what the various ingredients 
cost him, according to which the price asked for 
liis fertilizer would not be extravagant. What 
knowledge has the public that he did not pay 
or allow too much for them ? 
Let us try to arrive at a just valuation for the 
four substances that constitute the chief value 
of our commercial fertilizers. These are, 1st, 
Ammonia or available Nitrogen; 2d, Phosphoric 
Acid, in a soluble form,called Soluble Phosphoric 
Acid; 3d, the same in an insoluble form, called 
Insoluble Phosphoric Acid; and 4th, Potash. 
Besides, the value of a manure does not depend 
solely upon its chemical composition; other 
qualities are considered, for instance, its con¬ 
dition of uniform fineness, of dryness, that it may 
easily be handled and mixed with other fertil¬ 
izers or with earth, and its freedom from weed- 
seeds, which last all should possess absolutely. 
The agricultural value of manure has nothing 
whatever to do with what is a fair price for it, 
except so far as the relations of supply and 
demand raise or lower the prices of all things. 
Each of the valuable ingredients has a fair 
market price. If the farmer chooses, he may 
buy and prepare for himself. It is fair that he 
should know as nearly as possible how he may 
supply himself with fertilizers at a less cost, if 
it can be done. 
Ammonia. —The sources of supply to the 
market are few and limited. All common sub¬ 
stances containing nitrogen may be regarded as 
supplying ammonia to the soil. Nitrogen in 
nitrie acid, as it exists in saltpetre and nitrate of 
soda, may be used as a manure, but in this form 
is usually far too expensive. Peruvian guano 
contains 14 to 17 per cent of ammonia; good 
fish manure a little more than half as much— 
say 8 to 8 1 ja per cent. Peruvian guano has, for 
many years, been the cheapest and best source of 
ammonia, and so it still continues. It contains, 
besides ammonia salts, about 2 per cent of pot¬ 
ash, 3 per cent of soluble phosphoric acid, and 
about 12 per cent of insoluble phosphoric acid. 
To come at the cost of the ammonia we must de¬ 
duct the value of the other things. Take 4 cents 
a pound as the value of potash, 4 cents as the 
value of the insoluble phosphoric acid, and 14 
cents as that of the soluble phosphoric acid. A 
ton of guano contains about 40 pounds of potash, 
worth $1.60, 210 pounds insoluble phosphoric 
acid, worth $9.60, and 60 pounds soluble phos¬ 
phoric acid, worth $3.40, altogether $19.60—call 
it $20. Peruvian guano sells now at about $80, 
currency, per 2,000 pounds; deduct $20, and we 
have $60, as the price of the 300 pounds of ammo¬ 
nia, making the ammonia 20 cents a pound. This 
is now a fair price for Ammonia or its equiva¬ 
lent wherever it occurs in commercial fertilizers. 
Phosphoric Acid.— The commonest source 
of supply is bones. There are several “plios- 
phatic guanos ” and mineral deposits whicji 
may be bought cither simply ground or “ ma¬ 
nipulated,” and a vast deposit of phosphatic ma¬ 
terial, the remains of ancient animals, has re¬ 
cently been brought to light near Charleston, 
S. C. “Bone-dust,” coarsely ground boiled 
bones, may be bought for $30 a ton, of 2,000 
pounds. A ton of it contains on an average 
about 60 pounds, or $12 worth of ammonia, 
which makes the 450 pounds of insoluble phos¬ 
phoric acid, which an average sample contains, 
worth $18, or 4 cents a pound. 
Soluble Phosphoric Acid is made from the 
insoluble (bone) phosphates, by mixing them in 
powder with a certain quantity of sulphuric 
acid (diluted oil of vitriol). This adds both to 
the price and to the efficiency of the phosphoric 
acid. If we consider the cost of the soluble 
phosphoric acid to be three times as great as 
the other, 12 cents per pound would be fair, and 
any farmer may produce it for that price, if 
he will make up one or two tons of bones. 
However, as it forms a staple article of manu¬ 
facture, and has to sustain the reputation of its 
maker, we add 2 cents per pound to this, and 
set down 14 cents as the value of soluble forms 
of phosphoric acid. 
Potash is so widely distributed that it has 
only a moderately high agricullmral value. As 
a fertilizer it hardly exists in market, the pot¬ 
ashes of commerce bearing too high a price for 
them to be used as a fertilizer. Good potashes 
are worth 7 els. per pound at wholesale; they 
contain not less than 75 per cent of real potash, 
which would therefore cost about 9 cts. per 
pound in this form. The available source of 
supply to the agriculturist is wood-ashes, and 
these contain other ingredients of value to the 
farmer, especially several per cent of phosphoric 
acid. We learn from a gentleman of large com¬ 
mercial and practical experience that a bushel 
of “ house-ashes ” weighs about 48 pounds on 
an average, and that several potash makers 
who iiavc boiled lye for many years agree in the 
opinion that they do not yield more than about 
4 pounds of potashes to the bushel, which would 
be 3 pounds of pure alkali. These practical 
men agreed within a pound or two in regard to 
the average weight of the bushel. One was 
from Vermont, one from St. Lawrence Co., and 
one from Buffalo, and their experience covers a 
period of 70 years down to one year ago. Ashes 
made in the open air weigh lighter, and hard¬ 
wood ashes contain much more potash than 
those of soft wood. The price per bushel for 
ashes has varied a good deal, but at 12 cts. per 
bushel, which has been and is a sort of standard 
price, we pay 4 cts. per pound for the potash 
and get the phosphates thrown in. Allowing 
4 cts. per pound for the phosphoric acid, we can 
afford to pay as high as 20 cts. per bushel for 
good ashes, if we cannot get them less. 
A good analysis of a fertilizer will show 
clearly the relative quantities of the substances 
we have considered. However, some analyses 
will state nitrogen instead of ammonia super¬ 
phosphate of lime, or soluble phosphate of lime 
instead of soluble phosphoric acid, and phos¬ 
phate of lime or bone phosphate or insoluble 
phosphate of lime or earthy phosphates instead 
of insoluble phosphoric acid. A good analysis, 
then, is the indispensable thing, and buyers have 
need to know that the analysis is a correct one, 
and this should be guaranteed. 
We arrive, after these calculations, at the fol¬ 
lowing scale of prices, which we believe to be 
liberal, both towards the farmer and the dealer 
in fertilizers. If the farmer really knows what 
he wants and gets it, he can well afford to pay 
the prices we give—while the manufacturer 
and dealer can invariably buy at so much lower 
rates, that we think if they buy well and sell at 
the figures we give, they will make handsome 
profits. 
SCALE OF PRICES. 
Value. Value. 
Ammonia.20 cts. I Nitrogen.23'/2 cts. 
Soluble Phos. Acid. .11 “ I Sol. Phos. of lime.. “ 
Insol. Phos. Acid_ 4 “ Insoluble Phosphate 
Potash. 4 “ I of lime,(less than). 2 “ 
---—-► —-■- 
Roads and Road-making.—Ho. 3. 
The title to the highway is usually vested in 
the original proprietors, and when a change 
of title in the land takes place, and the owner¬ 
ship of one side passes into other hands, in the 
case of roads which were originally laid out 
across an estate, deeds are usually given to the 
middle of the road. It is therefore almost uni¬ 
versally the case that adjoining proprietors, sep¬ 
arated by a highway, own the road between 
them. This property is given up to the public 
for the purposes of a highway, and the owner 
cannot obstruct this use. The width of road¬ 
way proper, the position and width of the ditch¬ 
es, the position of trees standing in the high¬ 
way, etc., are not under the owner’s control. 
All crops, however, grass, fruit, etc., belong to 
the proprietor of the land; they are not public 
property any more than if they were on the 
other side of the fence; All highways should 
consist of a road-way, or traveled path, of 
determined width, for wheel vehicles and ani¬ 
mals, a ditch on each side of this where it is 
needed, or wherever it is possible to have it, and 
a fence strip on each side. The width of these 
several parts of the highway depends upon its 
total width, and upon the condition of the land 
through or over which the road goes, and within 
certain limits should be determined by law, or 
b 3 r vote of the town. In making or mending 
the roads these dimensions should be rigidly 
adhered to,—the side strips not touched, the 
ditches made no wider nor deeper than the rule 
requires, the track neither narrower nor wider. 
The gradual filling up of the ditches will afford 
material suitable for mending the sides of the 
road, but rarely such as ought to be used for 
the top, except where there is a great dearth of 
gravel. We arc particularly strenuous about 
the side or fence strips being untouched, be¬ 
cause where this is uniformly the case the in¬ 
habitants will take pride in keeping them well, 
cutting off the brush, removing stones, etc., 
grading them, and keeping them in grass, which 
should be either fed off close or frequently 
mowed. Landowners will take pride, also, in 
setting out trees near their dwellings at least; 
and frequently those will be found who will line 
the highways for miles with shade trees, pro¬ 
vided they feel sure that the road-master will 
not order gravel to be dug under the roots, or 
the trees to be sacrificed for some whim of his. 
The width of our country roads is usually es¬ 
tablished by law within certain limits. Still the 
commissioners will often accept, for the public, 
roads of any width, and as these remain unal¬ 
tered, there can hardly be said to be any uni- 
