Tonnage of Fertilizers Used in New Jersey.

1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895.

24,498 22,500 25,413 23,864 27,236 29,431 33,821 37,927 39,319 39,118

1,343 1,898 1,016 1,067 998 1,101 1,628 2,222 3,124 1,743
2,338 2,465 2,036 1,498 1,679 2,735 2,308 3,021 3,291 2,489
1,106 1,220 604 625 567 784 825 1,056 1,313 1,529
255 314 449 491 393 560 552 695
906 1,225
+306 305 +128 +422 +418

*6981

*1,703

+7641 †1,141

594 370 457 2,078 1,303 1,745 1,662 2,174 3,345 3,443 1,978 1,929 2,377

572 4,925 2,388 2,048 1,208 1,195

930

Poudrette

13

Hair...

Bone-Black Superphosphate..........

66 S. C. Rock Superphosphate.........

38,678 31,216 33,633 32,246 39,516 43,414 47,654 51,758 53,469 51,149

*The total number of tons in 1886 and 1888, under Ammonite, includes both blood and fish, returns having been made, in many cases, without discrimination. †The total number of tons, in 1889, 1891, 1892, 1898, 1894 and 1895, under Ammonite, includes blood, Cotton-seed meal,

The Average Retail Prices for 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895.

1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895.

Complete Manure...........

Ammoniated Superphosphate without Potash (Dissolved Bone, etc.)................

Superphosphates made from Bone Black...

S. C. Rock..........

$36.68 $34.80 $34.83 $36.07 $34.64 $34.23 $34.19 $34.11 $34.17 $32 87

.........

29.25 32.63 31.90 31.83 32.00 29.64 30.86 31.33 28.70 28.04
34.35 35.39 33.76 34.46 32.74 31.99 31.35 32.50 30.35 30.95
10.60 10.25 12.83 12.10 12.23 13.44 13.49 11.43 11.92 11.94
42.00 39.54 42.33 39.75 41.75 42.05 42.47 41.22 41.38 40.00
*40.40
*36.66*34.60 31.84 33.00 40.00 45.60 41.58 40.00
70.00 68.20 69.70 71.18 68.63 69.20 66.97 67.28 72.82 65.50
58.72 51.61 52.00 51.62 44.83 46.39 44.77 49.27 45.18 42.93
33.00 32.67 45.60 41.58 36.50
31.08 34.05 34.00 35.00 35.00
7.00
7.00 7.00 7.00

10.00
10.00

35.33
35.17

14.44 12.04 11.04

25.85 26.95 24.80 24.55 22.00 21.08 20.89 18.98 20.51 18.06
17.75 17.73 15.60 15.80 14.00 15.39 14.50
*The prices for blood, ammonite and fish have been averaged for the years 1886, 1888 and 1889, for reasons mentioned above.

The question has been raised whether the variations in the average price of complete manures have been accompanied by corresponding variations in the absolute amounts of plant-food actually delivered to consumers. To answer this the analyses made by the Station in the past year have been averaged, with the following results:

An examination of these figures indicates that no decided change in the average quality of fertilizers has occurred during the past eleven years. This is rendered more definite by computing cash valuations on the basis of the Station's schedule for 1895.

On this basis a fertilizer, to represent the average for each of the eleven years, would be valued as follows:

1 he decline in prices of complete fertilizers from 1885 to 1895, therefore, was not accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the absolute amounts of plant-food delivered to consumers.

The total cash value of the reported sales of commercial fertilizers in this State during 1895, as compared with that of previous years, is as follows:

The preceding records show that the farmers of this State paid nearly $1,286,000 last season for complete manures. It is therefore a matter of importance to ascertain the principal conditions which influence the selling price of these materials.

Complete fertilizers are made by mixing a number of crude products, each of which contains one or more of the following elements of plant-food, viz., nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. Efforts have been made, therefore, to secure :

The average wholesale prices of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash.

The average retail prices of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash.

The advance in prices between the wholesale and retail markets.

The wholesale prices are quoted every Monday in the well-known trade journal, The Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter. These prices have been tabulated for the entire year, and have then been recalculated in order to express the results in the form adopted by the experiment stations of this country.

The retail prices were calculated from the analyses of those samples of raw materials published in the report of 1895, which were taken from goods in the hands of farmers and which had been bought for cash direct from the manufacturers of complete fertilizers.

A comparison of the retail and wholesale prices, secured as above described, gives the following:

A summary of these averages for seven years shows a difference of 26.5 per cent. between the wholesale and retail prices of nitrogen. This is much wider than ever before and is largely due to the unusually low wholesale prices which ruled for all ammoniates during 1895. In the case of available phosphoric acid the difference has been diminished about 21 per cent., while in potash there is a slight. increase of 1 per cent.