1908. 
THE; RURAL NEW-YORKER 
407 
“A FERTILIZER ANALYSIS.” 
Part III. 
In order to bring out one side of this discussion 
more clearly we give space to the following letter 
from an agent of the Buffalo Fertilizer Company: 
Your article on the Buffalo Fertilizer Company while 
doubtless sincere, was hardly in line with your mission to 
Mr. Farmer. This company has doubtless given the 
farmers better values than they could obtain from other 
sources, and has saved their purchasers at least $1 per 
ton for the past four years. In growing crops they have 
shown better results than other brands of same guar¬ 
anteed analysis, and this is, or should be, the real test 
of merit and purchase value. Their offer to give you all 
you pay for is better than theoretical analysis, in crop 
growing. j. i. v. s. 
“Our mission,” as we understand it, is to give the 
truth. No one has yet questioned the truth of any 
statement we have made about this company. They 
would not have been mentioned if the goods they 
sold the New York Fruit Growers had not been 
below guarantee. As The Country Gentleman has 
used this company and the goods it makes in attempt¬ 
ing to discredit the work of our experiment stations 
we take their figures for discussion. 
Has the Buffalo company “given the farmer better 
values than they can obtain from any other source?” 
In order to do that they must give more needed plant 
food for a dollar. Some farmers find it hard to 
understand what the “valuation” of a fertilizer means. 
The three elements of plant food which have com¬ 
mercial value are nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid. Prof. Hopkins, of Illinois, puts this very clearly 
as follows: 
The productive capacity of practically all soils in good 
physical condition is measured by the available supply of 
the three plant food elements, phosphorus, potassium and 
nitrogen, because they are required by all crops in very 
considerable quantities, while in most soils the supply of 
one or more of them is limited. If the supply of one 
of these elements is too limited, it must as a consequence 
limit the yield of the crop, even though all other factors 
essential to crop produclion are well provided. It is be¬ 
cause of these facts that the three elements, phosphorus, 
potassium and nitrogen, in commercial form, have come 
to have a recognized money value. 
The commercial values of nitrogen, phosphoric acid 
and potash have been closely figured out. When a 
man offers us a pound of nitrogen or a pound of 
potash in a fertilizer we can tell what it is worth as 
we could of a pound of iron or sugar or flour by 
finding what we would have to pay for it elsewhere. 
File “valuation” of these Buffalo goods would be 
found by multiplying the pounds of nitrogen, potash 
and phosphoric acid in a ton by the trade prices 
of these elements. That valuation would be compared 
with the selling price—that is, what a farmer pays 
for the goods. Some of the experiment stations fig¬ 
ure these valuations and print them side by side with 
the agent’s price. No one, probably not even Mr. 
Tucker, will question the reliability of the work done 
in Connecticut. We give below figures taken from 
Dr. Jenkins’ report of some of the Buffalo brands: 
Name Agent’s Price Valuation 
Vegetable and Potato Manure...$30.50 $17.50 
Celery and Potato. 32.25 19.57 
Farmer’s Choice . 27.75 • 13.44 
“Top Dresser’’ . 39.75 22.62 
Fish Guano . 24. 14.33 
Several others might be given. Now this is not an 
“attack” upon the Buffalo company, but a plain state¬ 
ment of fact. No one will dispute the accuracy of 
these figures. The manager of the Buffalo company 
told us that he charges $19 a ton for the “Farmer’s 
Choice” at his factory. We make the comparison 
between what a farmer has to pay the agent and 
when he pays an average of $27.75 for $13.44 worth 
of plant food he does not get full value for his dol¬ 
lar. If we figured out the valuation of those brands 
which Mr. Tucker himself sampled we shall find a 
low valuation compared with what the farmers paid 
tor the goods. We base our remarks squarely upon 
the records of the stations, which we believe are 
reliable. 
We have already mentioned eight States in which 
last year the Buffalo goods fell below guarantee. 
We now add another—Maine. In bulletin No. 153 
anyone may read the record. A fertilizer known as 
"Aroostook Complete” was made by the Buffalo Fer¬ 
tilizer Co. and sold by another company. It was 
found below the guarantee and farmers complained 
that it did not produce the crop. The station analyzed 
13 different samples of this fertilizer. Every single 
one of them was found below the guarantee in one or 
more elements. The average of all these 13 samples 
showed a “valuation” according to the station of 
$26.90, while the guaranteed analysis promised $29.69 
worth of plant food. Thus taking the average of 
13 samples a farmer who bought this fertilizer re¬ 
ceived $2-79 less value per ton than he was supposed 
to. One of those samples actually showed a shortage 
of nearly $7 worth of plant food in a ton. The 
Country Gentleman cannot say that this is “abuse” 
by a “yellow journal,” for these figures are public, 
and we assert that no fertilizer sold last year made 
a poorer showing at the' experiment stations th^n 
these Buffalo goods. We believe the greatest care 
was taken to sample them fairly and analyze them 
accurately. This year the Buffalo company is again 
making these goods. The Maine company which han¬ 
dles them has arranged to have samples taken by the 
station from every carload. Dr. Woods reports that 
19 cars received in February were again below in 
nitrogen and potash. In January all the goods were 
reported above in nitrogen and potash, but below in 
available phosphoric acid. The Buffalo company ex¬ 
plains this by saying that with their peculiar process 
of manufacture the phosphoric acid will increase in 
availability so that by the time the fertilizer is used 
it will be up to guarantee. 
An examination of this claim will give us an idea 
of how fertilizers are made. In the articles printed 
through the Winter we saw that soluble phosphoric 
acid is made by mixing sulphuric acid with ground 
phosphate rock. In the Buffalo factory this phos¬ 
phate rock, and some afiimal matter, usually tankage, 
is mixed together with sulphuric acid. When mixed 
it is put into a “den” made of concrete. The chem¬ 
ical action of the acid on the rock starts a fearful 
heat. Thus not only is the phosphate rock more or 
less dissolved, but the tankage is made more avail¬ 
able. This action goes on 12 hours or more, when 
the “den” is opened and the warm, wet mass is shov¬ 
eled out. It is mixed with potash and other chem¬ 
icals and finally dumped into large piles forming the 
“base goods” which were mentioned last week. In 
case all the sulphuric acid has not been neutralized 
in the “den” an action would go on in this “base pile.” 
As described last week, when a certain brand of fer¬ 
tilizer is wanted a quantity of these “base goods” will 
be taken and mixed with other chemicals. Once 
mixed and in the bags there is practically no possi¬ 
bility for any more of the phosphoric acid to become 
available. It could only become so by the use of sul¬ 
phuric acid, and if the Buffalo company left so much 
of this in their goods that it would continue to dis¬ 
solve the rock it would destroy the bags and most 
likely also kill every seed it touched! There is no 
secret about this process, as most fertilizer makers 
practice it—some evidently being more careful than 
others. If the Buffalo people leave so much sulphuric 
acid in the bags we are sorry for those who put their 
hands in the fertilizer. 
There is another side to this “valuation.” All 
forms of nitrogen are not equal in value any more 
than all cuts of beef are alike. There is as much 
difference between a pound of nitrate nitrogen and 
a pound of some organic as between tenderloin steak 
and shin bone (see page 77). Mr. Tucker in his crit¬ 
icism complains because the stations do not show this 
difference. We might expect a critic to show us how, 
but this one only seeks to tear down. He has a 
dozen samples analyzed, but in not one single case 
does he show the quantities of nitrate, sulphate or 
organic. Nor do the private analyses of the company 
show this most important point. Some of the sta¬ 
tions do it, and we shall now go to their figures to 
pick this Buffalo nitrogen apart. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—A test suit has been brought by District 
Attorney A. E. Holton, in the United States Court at Ashe¬ 
ville. N. C., to establish judicially the ownership of the 
United States to all land in the extreme western part of 
North Carolina, embracing eight counties, including towns 
and villages occupied by 100.000 persons, and also includ¬ 
ing 50.000 acres of George W. Vanderbilt’s Plsgah forest 
preserves. There are four railways, copper and kaolin 
mines included iu this territory. The District Attorney al¬ 
leges that in 1783 North Carolina made a treaty with the 
Cherokee Indians conveying to that tribe these lands, and 
that later the Indians ceded the land to the United States 
in return for a smaller allotment in North Carolina and 
a grant in Indian Territory. It is asserted that the State 
afterward treated the lands as its own and allotted them 
out, but that the title never passed from the United 
States. . . . As a result of heavy rains, large damage 
has resulted to towns, railroads and sawmills near Beau¬ 
mont, Texas. A fire started bv lightning raged for 24 
hours in a well of the Security Oil Company April 15, 
causing a loss of $150,000. . . . As a result of the 
first conviction under the pure food and drug law, Rob¬ 
ert N. Harper, president of the Washington Chamber of 
Commerce, formerly president of the American National 
Bank, a drug manufacturer, and one of the best-known 
business men of Washington, D. C., was sentenced by 
Judge Kimball to pay a fine of $500 on one count and $20f> 
on another of the indictment against him for manufactur¬ 
ing and selling an alleged mislabelled headache remedy. 
President Roosevelt summoned District Attorney Baker to 
the White House and directed him to press for a jail 
sentence for Harper in order that the first violator of 
the pure food law should suffer the extreme penalty. 
. . . Fire in a business block at White Plains, N. Y., 
April 16, caused a loss of $100,000. ... A jury in the 
Supreme Court, Brooklyn, April 16, awarded to Mary 
Hatch Riggs a verdict of $35,000 in her suit against the 
New York Tunnel Company for the loss of her husband. 
Clarence B. Riggs. On September 30, 1906, while Riggs 
was at work in the Battery tunnel under the East River, 
a premature blast of dynamite occurred and he was 
struck on the head by a flying rock and died in about two 
weeks from the injuries he received. It was maintained 
that the blast was let off without sufficient warning. The 
widow sued for $50,000 damages. . . . Following a 
day of rioting in which two strikebreakers were shot, 
others were driven from town and the life of President 
Riggs of the Chester, Pa., Traction Company was threat¬ 
ened by a mob which gathered about his hotel. Gov. 
Stuart April 16 ordered an “adequate force” of State 
constabulary fo proceed at once to Chester. . . Charles 
G. Horton of Hoboken was arrested in New York April 16 
on an indictment found by the Federal Grand Jury charging 
him with using the mails for a scheme to defraud. He 
gave $2,000 bail for trial. Horton was arrested in 1906 
in connection with certain timber land frauds in Michi¬ 
gan, but the charge was never pressed and he was re¬ 
leased. In the present case the alleged offence consisted 
in getting consignments of lumber from various points in 
the Northwest which he was supposed to sell on commis¬ 
sion. It is alleged that he sold the lumber and pocketed 
the proceeds. . . . The main building of the Cayuga 
Lake Salt Company, now a branch of the International 
Salt Company, at Dudlowville. N. Y.. was destroyed by 
fire April 17. The flames could be seen from Ithaca, If) 
miles away. Eight thousand tons of salt were consumed, 
and the property damage is estimated at more than $200,- 
000. Two hundred men are out of work.The 
Texas flood reached its worst results April 19, when new 
rains deluged Fort Worth. Dallas and all the country ad¬ 
jacent in the valleys of Trinity River and its tributaries. 
Four lives were lost and 500 houses were wrecked in the 
packing house town of North Fort Worth, suburb of Fort 
Worth. Nearly 4.000 persons were driven from their 
homes. Two railroad men lost their lives near Cleburne 
when their train plunged into a washout. The flood at 
Dallas is the worst known since 1866.' The river was two 
miles wide and all railroads In the northern half of the 
State were crippled. Five iron bridges are gone on the 
Texas Central between Ilico and Cisco. Texas and Pacific 
trains were abandoned west of Fort Worth on account of 
washout and high water in the Brazos River. The Frisco 
the Rock Island and the Cotton Belt lines are heavy suf¬ 
ferers The property loss in the State is estimated at 
$2,000,000. The flood drift in Red Oak creek, 30 miles 
from Dallas, caused a large break in the oil pipe line of 
the Texas company and thousands of gallons of oil ran 
out. . . . April 20 nine men were killed by a dynamite 
explosion on the Transcontinental Railway near Armagh, 
Canada. The blast was fired prematurely. 
ADMINISTRATION.—By a vote of 199 to 83 the House 
of Representatives April 15 decided against the President's 
programme for four battleships and adhered to the 
recommendation of the Committee on Naval Affairs for 
two vessels of that type. An amendment offered by Mr. 
Tawney authorizing the building of only one ship was 
overwhelmingly defeated , as was a compromise amendment 
offered by Mr. Hobson, calling for three ships. The ques¬ 
tion was vigorously debated on both sides for almost three 
hours, and party lines were obliterated in the voting. 
. . . The recent decrease of $260,957 in the receipts of 
50 of the largest post offices of the country for March, 
1908, as against M'arch, 1907, will be used by Postmaster- 
General Meyer as an argument for the enactment of the 
bill establishing parcels post on rural routes. Mr. Meyer 
is calling the attention of Congress to the idea that the es¬ 
tablishment of a special local parcels post would wipe out 
the postal deficit, besides being a boon to the farmer and the 
retail country merchants. There are now in operation 
39.038 rural routes, serving a population of 15.000.000 
people. Mr. Meyer says that should an average of five 
11 -pound packages be carried on each trip throughout the 
year it is estimated that $15,000,000 would be realized 
and the net return to the Government would be more than 
sufficient to equal the annual deficit. 
STATE FAIR COMMISSION.—Lieut.-Gov. Chanler was 
chosen president and former State Commissioner of Agri¬ 
culture Charles A. Wieting vice-president of the New 
State Fair Commission at its meeting for organization at 
Albany, April 20. It was decided to remove the offices of 
the fair commission from Albany to Syracuse. The com¬ 
mission re-elected S. C. Shaver of Albany as secretary and 
A. K. Brown of Batavia as treasurer. 
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