The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-03-01
What is the Cheapest Commercial Fer
tIliZer!

Is an inquiry that frequently receive.
The most economical fertilizer for a Civ
ell case is that which supplies, in the
best forms and at the lowest cost. the
plant food which the crop needs and the
soil fails to furnish. The requirements
of different soils and crops are of course
varied. In itself considered, that com.
mercial fertilizer is the cheapest which
furnishes the valuable ingredients at the
lowest rates. Our State Agricultural
Society had this subject canvassed with
unusual thoroughncss by Offering at
their fair year ago last fall prizes for
those "fcrtilizers which, as actually sold
in the state, are found, on comparison
of the selling price with the actual COM
position as shown by the averages of
the analyses made at the State Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, to furnish the
valuable ingredients in the best forms
and at the lowest prices per pound"
The first prize, Gold Medal, offered
'for the fertilizer which furnishes the
largest quantity, at the lowest price per
pound, of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash" was given to No. l Peruvian
Guano, rectilied, manufactured by Hob
son, Hurtado IL Co., and sold by them
and by G. V. Mapes. In the Judges re-
port, which was based, not "upon the
specimens exhibited by manufacturers or
sellers at the state fair, but upon the
character of the fertilizers actually sold
to the farmers of Connecticut, as shown
by analyses of large number of sam
pies collected from various places where
they were sold," they stake occasion to
say that we deem the plan adopted in
the preparation and sale of Peruvian
guanos, particularly the "Rectifed" and
"Guarantecd' brands, worthy ofspccial
commentator, in that the prices at
which they are sold are based upon the
analyses as guaranteed upon each pack
age, each pound of the valuable ingre-
dents being rated at certain price, in
stead of the usual way of selling by the
gross weight irrespective of the relative
proportions of the valuable and the COM
paratively worthless ingredients. 1t is
both fortunate and suggestive that the
plan, which is the most rational and Just
one for the sale of commercial fertilizers,
should have been adopted for an article
of such leading Importance in our agri-
culture"
The prize for ammoniatcd superphos-
biittcS Was tWurucu 10 lNuSsel Zoe, tnal
for superphosphates without nitrogen,
"plain superphosphates," to ii. j. Ba-
ker IL Brother, and that for fish man.
ures to the Quinnipiac Fertilizing Com
pany. The Stockbridge and hatfield
Fertilizers received honorable mention,
as being what they were claimed TO be.
Since this report was made, a good
many more fertilizers have been ana
lyzed at onr laboratory. Indeed, during
little over two years past not far from
three hundred samples of commercial
fertilizers, comprising nearly all of the
more important kinds sold in this part
of the country, have come to my hands
for analysis. Among these were fifteen
samples of Peruvian guano. The COM
position of these averaged ,on the whole
better than was claimed. Taking into
account both quality and price, no 9th
er fertilizers have been seen at our lab
oratory which, as class, taking into
account both quality and price, furnish
the valuable ingredients of plant food Sc
cheaply as Peruvian guano.-[ Ameri
can Agriculturist.