SLAUGHTER-HOUSE REFUSE.

2396. Tankage which had been accumulating in a pit at a slaughter-house for some years. It had passed the first stages of putrefaction, was a wet, black, stinking mass, but contained no tough pieces of animal tissue or bone. Sent by C. E. Lyman, Middlefield. It contained about 72 per cent. of water.

The "valuation," made as for a commercial fertilizer, is $5.74, but on account of its wetness it is doubtful if it would be really worth more than half that sum delivered on the farm.

LAND PLASTER OR GYPSUM.

2379. Nova Scotia Plaster. Stock of Nathan Couch, Branchville. Sampled and sent by D. H. VanHoosear, Wilton.

2380. From Smith & Sons, West Cornwall. Sampled by Station Agent.

2381. Nova Scotia Plaster. Stock of Cochrane Brothers, West Cornwall. Sampled by Station Agent.

REVIEW OF THE FERTILIZER MARKET

For the Year ending November 1, 1888.

NITROGEN.

Nitric Nitrogen.

The wholesale price of nitric nitrogen in nitrate of soda was 12.7 cents per pound in November of last year. It rose to 13.8 cents in January, fell gradually to 12.8 cents in May, and rose again to 14.1 cents in October.

Its retail price in Connecticut this season has been a little under 16 cents ($50 to $52 per ton for nitrate of soda).

Ammonic Nitrogen.

The wholesale price for nitrogen in sulphate of ammonia was 14.7 cents per pound in November of last year. It rose to 14.9 cents in December and kept there pretty steadily till September, when it stood at 15.3 and rose in October to 15.8 cents.

Its retail price in Connecticut during the year has been from 17 to 18 cents per pound.

Organic Nitrogen.

The nitrogen of high grade Dried Blood was quoted at wholesale in the New York market in November, 1887, at about 11.8 cents per pound. Since that time it has risen in price, as is shown in detail on page 87. The average cost in January was 12.2 cents, in March 13.9, and this figure held till June, when it began to rise again. The average quotation for October was 15 cents per pound.

The nitrogen in Azotin bas ruled a trifle lower than in dried blood. The wholesale cost of nitrogen in these materials has been about twenty per cent. higher during the last three months of the year than during the first three.

Organic nitrogen at retail cost in this State last spring from 11.9 cents to 13.4 cents per pound in cotton seed meal and in two brands of castor pomace 13.9 and 14.4 cents. No stock of dried blood was found by our agents. In a single sample of dry

ground fish nitrogen cost 18 cents.

PHOSPHATIC MATERIALS.

Refuse Bone Black at Wholesale fell from $17.75 in November of last year to $16.75 in March, where it remained till September, when it was quoted at $18.25 and in October at $19.20.

Rough and Ground Bone have been steady through the year at $18.00 and $22.50 respectively.

Ground Charleston Rock, f. o. b. N. Y., fell from $9.85 in November of last year to $9.25 in February, began rising in May, and in October stood at $10.25. The quotations for superphos phates have not fluctuated through the year. "Available" phosphoric acid in dissolved S. C. Rock has cost at wholesale in N. Y. 3.7 cents, in dissolved bone it has cost 4.05 cents.

Sulphuric Acid 66° B. ruled at 1.074 cents per pound till September, when it rose to 1.10.

POTASH.

In Muriate of Potash.

Potash in this form was quoted at wholesale in N. Y. at 3.46 cents per pound in November of last year. It stood at 3.48 in January and February, fell again in March and April to 3.46, rose again and stood at 3.50-3.52 till September, when it went up again to 3.71, where it now stands. It has retailed in Connecticut during the season at from 3.9 to 4.2 cents per pound ($41.50$43.00 per ton of muriate of potash).

Double Sulphate of Potash and Magnesia.

Potash in this article shows frequent and considerable fluctuations. It has been quoted at wholesale in New York from 3.864.47 cents per pound. It has sold in this State at retail for about 5 cents during the season.

High grade Sulphate of Potash.

This is a high grade sulphate (guaranteed 90-98 per cent. actual sulphate of potash) containing about as much potash, pound for pound, as muriate (50-51 per cent.). It is quoted

in N. Y. wholesale for 2.3 cents per pound, or 4.5 cents for actual potash. It has cost a trifle over 6 cents at retail in Connecticut the past year.

Kainit.

Kainit has risen steadily from $8.00 per ton at the opening of the year to $10.00 in October. Assuming that kainit averages 12.4 per cent. of potash, the wholesale cost of potash in kainit in the N. Y. market has been from 3.2 to 4 cents per pound.

In general there has been a decided advance during the year in the prices of nitrogen in nitrates, ammonia salts and high grade organic matters.

There has been no very marked change in the quotations of dissolved phosphate, though the raw materials rule higher.

Potash salts are now considerably higher than in the early months of the year.

The market quotations given above are taken from the "Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter," published in New York. The weekly quotations for each month are averaged, and this average is taken as the quotation for the month.

The following explanations will be helpful in the examination of the market quotations, and will also serve to show the basis on which they have been interpreted in this review:

Phosphate rock, kainit, bone, fish-scrap, tankage, and some other articles are quoted and sold by the ton. The seller usually has an analysis of his stock and purchasers often control this by an analysis at the time of purchase.

Sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda and muriate of potash are quoted and sold by the pound, and generally their wholesale and retail rates do not differ very widely.

Blood, azotin and ammonite are quoted at so much "per unit of ammonia." To reduce ammonia to nitrogen, multiply the per cent. of ammonia by the decimal .824 (or multiply the percentage of ammonia by 14 and divide that product by 17). A " unit of

ammonia" is one per cent., or 20 pounds per ton. To illustrate : if a lot of tankage has 7.0 per cent. of nitrogen, equivalent to 8.5 per cent. of ammonia, it is said to contain 84 units of ammonia, and if it is quoted at $2.25 per unit, a ton of it will cost 8×2.25 =$19.13.

The term "ammonia" is properly used only in those cases where the nitrogen actually exists in the form of ammonia, but it is a usage of the trade to reckon all nitrogen, in whatever form it occurs, as ammonia.

To facilitate finding the actual cost of nitrogen per pound from the cost per unit of ammonia in the market reports, the following table is given.

Ammonia at $3.00 per unit is equivalent to nitrogen at 18.2 cts. per lb.

Commercial Sulphate of Ammonia contains on the average 20.5 per cent. of nitrogen, though it is found to vary considerably in quality. When it has that amount of nitrogen (equivalent to 24.3 per cent. of ammonia),

At 4 cents per lb. Nitrogen costs 19.5 cents per lb.

Commercial Nitrate of Soda averages 95 per cent. of the pure salt or 15.6 per cent. of nitrogen.