Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-02-14
FERTILIZERS HIGHER.
All The Crude Materials Have
Materially Advanced.
President Morgan, of The Vir-
ginia-Carolina Chemical Co.,
Says The Selling Price us
Lower Than Cost of
Materials Warrants.
Raleieh News and Observer.


To the Editor: My attention
has been called to a communica-
tion in the News Ind Observer,
published under date of Wednes-
day, January 31st, 1900, in refer
ence to the advance in the price of
fertilizers, wherein it is stated that
the farmers of Pitt county, North
Carolina, propose to organize and
fight the advance III the prices of
fertilizers, and by insinuation our
Company is censured as the cause
of the advance.
I desire to make a plain state
ment of facts and conditions as
now obtaining IN the fertilizer trade
and to show to The dealers and
consumers of fertilizers that the
advance in the price of manufacture
ed fertilizers is not only just aud
warranted but is absolutely
necessary, and that the manufac-
turers of fertilizers could not af-
ford to sell them at the price
ruling last year unless they did 80
at very heavy loss.
Now to get down to facts and
figures; we will see what has really
caused the price of fertilizers to
be advanced this year over last.
Acid Phosphate being one of the
principal ingredients in all COM
plete fertilizers, I desire to show
here how much this article costs to
make in excess of the cost price
for the same thing last year.
The advance in pyrites, from
which sulphuric acid is made,
is more than $500 per ton over
last year. The advance in Nitrate
of Soda, which is a necessary
ingredient in the manufacture of
sulphuric acid, is fully $500 per
ton more than last year. Phosphate
Rock has advanced a minimum of
s1.75 per ton at the mines, and in
some grades of rock the advance
is more than $500 per ton. These
three articles constitute what is
necessary to made Acid Phosphate.
Put them together in the proper
proportion and a ton of Acid
Phosphate will cost s2,07 per ton
more than it did last year.
Bags are costing US zoe. per ton
more than they did last year, SO
that the crude material going into
a ton of Acid Phosphate is costing
approximately $2.27 more than it
did q year ago.
Every piece of factory supplies
and machinery, coal, and every
thing necessary to operate a fac
tory, is from 25 to 100 per cent.
higher than it as a year ago.
This will add certainly an addi-
tional 10c. to the cost of a ton of
fertilizer, making in the most con-
servative and reasonable estimate
possible a ton of 13 per cent. Acid
Phosphate, bagged and ready for
shipment, cost the manufacturer
$2.37 more than it did twelve
months ago.
Now let US look at complete
ammoniated fertilizers: We will
take what is commonly known as
standard grade Of complete fer
tilizer, running, say, d per cent
of ammonia, 8 per cent. of avail
able phosphoric acid, and l
per cent of potash. As I have
above demonstrated, acid phos-
phate costs $2.07 more than last
year. This is equivalent to a
little more than 10c. per 100
pounds. In making the d. 8 and
fertilizers, 1900 pounds of acid
phosphate wou,,--, be necessary,
so at 10c. additional cost per 1OC
pounds, the additional cost for
&C id phosphate would be 81 20.
If cotton seed meal was used for
the ammonia, it would take
approximately 7OOpounda, and cot.
ton seed meal is now worth $500
per ton more than last year,
which is equivalent to 3Oc. per 10C
pounds, and 700 pounds would
cost $2.10 mora than it did last
year. Now add 20c. for extra cost
for the bags and you have $3.50
per ton more for the materials than
we paid for these same materials
last year.
If tankage or blood was used
for the source of ammonia instead
of cotton seed meal, the advanced
cost over las. year would be $500
Der ton, as ammonia from tankage