Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-23

buy fertilizers in such or such forms. III TAR
mers purchase unfortunately, and without
proper knowledge the prices will depend up
on the course Of the wholesale market for
the raw material and the convenience or in
terest of manufacturers. II farmers, how
ever, are posted" and generally refuse, for
instance, to buy Soluble phosphoric acid at
twelve and one half cents pound in a super
phosphate when they can buy reverted SUI
perphosphate in medium ground bone at five
cents pound, or ''insouble" superphosphate
in fine ground Charleston rock phosphate at
three and one-half cents a pound, the price
of the Soluble" article will come down to
what the farmers are willing to give for 1t.
As q matter of fact the high priced soluble
phosphate becomes reverted in the soil in a
few hours, and the only possible superiority
il has consists in the fact that for the few
hours it remains soluble it is being more
evenly distributed in the soil. All fertile
soils contain phosphate Of lime in the 'insol-
uble" form, and yet plants growing in them
get enough for the most luXuriRnt growth,
thus showing that though this mineral may
be 'insoluble' in pure water in a chemists
laboratory, it is sufficiently soluble in the wa
ter of the soil to enable plants to get all they
need in the good soil 1t is also fact that
the phosphoric acid Of stable manure is not
in the form which the chemist calls ''solu-
Die, vet IL IS uNHllhDlb 10 crops IL - Db-
cause this thing is not sufficiently understood
that farmers persist in buying the Soluble"
phosphate of commercial fertilizer at twelve
and one-half to eighteen cents pound when
they can get the same thing in ground bone
at five cents. We say from twelve and one
half to eighteen cents because nearly all the
commercial fertilizers sold in New England,
when analysed and their value calculated &c
cording to the table given above, still fall
short Of the selling price from So to SIS on
ton. And yet at the estimated chemical
value the purchaser is giving twelve and one
half.cents pound for soluble" phosphoric
acid, and twenty to twenty-four cents a
pound for nitrogen, when he can get his
phosphoric acid Gin the same form that il ex-
lists in the best stable manure, hog manure,
sheep manure, hen manure, or Peruvian
guano) for FIVE cents pound in ground bone,
and his nitrogen for from twelve to fifteen
cents per pound in the same. We think
land we speak from long continued practi-
teal experienced that this is preposterous
difference, entirely unjustifed by the agri-
cultural value of these substances as seen in
the growth of crops. But as long as farmers
can be hoodwinked into buying fertilizers at
$40 and $50 ton that analyze only S3i to
$40, and are brought up to even this price
by allowing such an extravagant rate for
soluble" phosphoric acid and ammonia, they
will be so sold. knowledge is worth money
in this matter,-as much so as in any with
which farmers have to deal. The true value
of the average superphosphates of the mar.
ket, Analysing about $3S per ton at the high
rates given above, is really about $50 to the
farmer, and could be sold at that price to him
| if the agent system was done away with, anG
the farmers would buy for cash directly from
the makers. Ground bone can be sold at {
! profit for $50 ton in car load lots for cash
| ton of bone makes about two tons of tn,
ordinary phosphate of the market, and the
material added (sulphuric acid and water
does not cost over So per ton, which will
bring the cost of pure bone superphosphatt
to the maker at not over $50 ton. If s.
worth of ammonia and potash salts are in
cuded in ton the cost will not exceed 81
per ton for what is called q complete fertil
izer, costing at the stores Si5 per ton to tn
consumer. These are far too big profits TO
such a class of goods, and when farmers un
derstand the matter, and will do their bust
ness with the makers in business-like man
uer, they can get their manufactured phos
pilates and their ground bone at $50 a ton
At that price the bone is the cheapest Fer
tilizers made from the rock phosphates ca
be sold still cheaper, and will pay a goo
profit at S25, or even $40 q ton. How al
surd it is to add sulphuric acid and waite
worth from one-hslf to three-fourths of
cent pound to ground phosphate rock wort
the same price and then ask the consumer
two and one-half cents pound for the mil
ture The price is twice too much In OF
opinion bones ought never to be made into
sulphate With acid. Aud as a matter of fat
most of the phosphates in the market al
made from the ground rock We do not b
lieve that bone can be bettered for fertilizin
purposes by the use of acid. Grind it fiji
and sell it to us pure; that is good enougl
49, Wdtchudn.