Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-06-14

Bulletin No. II of the state agricultural
experiment station gives the analyses of
fertilizers licensed for sale in Vermont.
Thirty-fve different brands were licensed
for sale in this state in 1898, and the same
number have been licensed this year. The
analyses given in this bulletin are all of
brands brought into the state since Jan. /,
1889 Most of the manufacturers offer two
or three different brands, so that the num-
Der of manufacturers competing in Yer
mont is much less than the number of
brands sold in the state Some of the
largest manufacturers, like the Mapes com
pany of New York, have never put their
goods on sale in Vermont since a license
fee has been required. We believe that the
farmers of this state would be benefited by
greater competition among the manufactu-
rers, especially if the fertilizers made by
the Mapes company were to supersede some
of the kinds which are now extensively
used here. We doubt if there is another
concern manufacturing fertilizers that can
show for long series of years a better
record of analyses than the Mapes compa-
ny. The amount of the license fee, it is
true, is not large enough to be of any ac-
count to manufacturers of fertilizers who
have good trade established in the state
but it is large enough to prevent the start
ing of home manufacture on small scale,
and to prevent the competition of large
manufacturers with those whose trade is
already well established here By the law
of 1882 regulating the sale of fertilizers
which was the first law of the kind in this
state-the license fee was fixed at $50 for
each brand sold or offered for sale By the
new law, enacted at the last session of the
legislature, the license fee is made 500, and
one license covers all brands made bv one
manufacturer or company. The bond
which is required to be deposited with the
treasurer of the state for the security of
penalties and costs of prosecutions for VIC
lation of the law has been reduced from
$4,000 to $1,000. On the whole, the amend
cd law should tend to improve the quality
and reduce the price of fertilizers offered
for sale in the state by increasing competi-
ton.
the Vermont station adopts the schedule of
trade values of fertilizing ingredients in
raw materials and chemicals agreed upon
by the Massachusetts, Connecticut and New
Jersey stations. These prices are substan-
TALLY the same as last year, except that nj
trogen in ammonia salts is J cents per
pound higher in blood and meat, q cents
higher in cottOn-seed and castor pomace,
cents lower and potash as high-grade
sulphate is half a cent per pound higher.
The nitrogen in all fertilizers alike is reck-
oned at - cents a pound in making the sta
ton valuations, which is its highest retail
price in the most costly form-ammonia
salts-used in fertilizers. The analyses
show that, with a single exception, not one
per cent of nitrogen in this form is used in
any fertilizer sold in this state, and in more
than half of these less than one fourth of
one per cent is used Why is the nitrogen
valued, alike in all fertilizers, at its highest
retail cost in a form in which the ANALYSIS
published with the valuation shows that it
is not much used 1t is not at all probable
that it cost the large manufacturer, who
buys at Wholesale rates in coarse, raw ma
teria, one-half of 10 cents per pound
Phosphoric acid and potash are also reck-
oned at the retail price of EACH and it is
assumed that none of the insoluble phospho
ric acid is from rock phosphate, which costs
only two cents pound. The Vermont sta
ton is not accused of being the originator
of this method of estimating the value of
fertilizers. 1t has been the standard of
valuation as made at the other stations.
Estimated in this way, "a of the principal
brands sold in Vermont have an average
valuation of 1922 per ton. The average
selling price of the same brands is $34. SO. |
They generally range as nearly alike in
composition and value as might be if they
were all made at one establishment, indi- |
eating an understanding between the prin- |
cipal manufacturers
The total valuation of each fertilizer is |
not given in the bulletin, but the valuation
of the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash |
is given separately. Adding the figures we |
find that one of the lowest valuations is |
S2l.G2 for Standard guano, and one of the
highest is $50 53 for Cumberland superphos-
phate. These two, and perhaps one or two
others, seem TO be somewhat out of the or
binary range of values.