[CHAPTER XXXIX.]
VALUE OF FERTILIZERS.
In 1857, Prof. S. W. Johnson, in his Report to the Connecticut Agricultural Society, adopted the following valuation:
| Potash | 4 cents per lb. |
| Phosphoric acid, insoluble in water | 4½ cents per lb. |
| Phosphoric acid, soluble in water | 12½ cents per lb. |
| Nitrogen | 17 cents per lb. |
Analyses of many of the leading commercial fertilizers at that time showed that, when judged by this standard, the price charged was far above their actual value. In some cases, manures selling for $60 per ton, contained nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash worth only from $20 to $25 per ton. And one well-known manure, which sold for $28 per ton, was found to be worth only $2.33 per ton. A Bone Fertilizer selling at $50 per ton, was worth less than $14 per ton.
“In 1852,” said the Doctor, “superphosphate of lime was manufactured by the New Jersey Zinc Co., and sold in New York at $50 per ton of 2,000 lbs. At the same time, superphosphate of lime made from Coprolites, was selling in England for $24 per ton of 2,240 lbs. The late Prof. Mapes commenced making “Improved Superphosphate of Lime,” at Newark, N.J., in 1852, and Mr. De Burg, the same year, made a plain superphosphate of lime in Brooklyn, N.Y. The price, in proportion to value, was high, and, in fact, the same may be said of many of our superphosphate manures, until within the last few years.”
Notwithstanding the comparatively high price, and the uncertain quality of these commercial manures, the demand has been steadily on the increase. We have now many honorable and intelligent men engaged in the manufacture and sale of these artificial manures, and owing to more definite knowledge on the part of the manufacturers and of the purchasers, it is not a difficult matter to find manures well worth the money asked for them.
“A correct analysis,” said I, “furnishes the only sure test of value. ‘Testimonials’ from farmers and others are pre-eminently unreliable. With over thirty years’ experience in the use of these fertilizers, I would place far more confidence on a good and reliable analysis than on any actual trial I could make in the field. Testimonials to a patent fertilizer are about as reliable as testimonials to a patent-medicine. In buying a manure, we want to know what it contains, and the condition of the constituents.”
In 1877, Prof. S. W. Johnson gives the following figures, showing “the trade-values, or cost in market, per pound, of the ordinary occurring forms of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, as recently found in the New York and New England markets: