purchaser. Believing the interests involved of sufficient magnitude to deserve more than a passing notice, I take the liberty of inviting your attention to the subject under discussion, for the purpose of considering whether it would be advisable to cause such alterations in our present laws for the regulation of the sale of fertilizers, as would meet the requirements for a satisfactory adjustment of the rights of all parties concerned. The prices of most articles used for fertilizing purposes have varied but little, during the past year, from those of the preceding year. The present indications are, that but little change may be expected at the opening of the coming season. The following statements of prices are mainly based on the ruling wholesale and retail market-prices during the past year in Boston and New-York cities. Some dealers have published valuations of their own, to show the advantages they offer to their customers. Wherever they are of a general interest, they have been mentioned in connection with the description of the fertilizers they refer Our farmers do well to render themselves familiar with the market-prices of our fertilizing materials, and to study statements like the following: I. I. Nitrogen. In form of ammonia and nitric acid. In form of dried ground meat and blood, finely pulver- In form of coarsely ground bones, horn-shavings, and II. Phosphoric Acid soluble in water. As contained in alka line phosphates and superphosphates In Peruvian guano and urates In form of so-called reduced or reverted acid . In form of finely ground South Carolina and Navassa 18 15 12.5 9 9 6 to 7 5 3.5 Price per pound, III. Potassium Oxide. In form of muriate of potash or chloride of potassium In form of sulphate of potassa in kainits In form of higher grades of sulphate of potassa . II. in cents. 6 7.5 9 Dried Blood, yielding from : (a) 12 to 14 per cent of ammonia Dried Meat, yielding from 14 to 15 per cent Fine-ground Bones, containing from 22 to 24 per cent phosphoric acid, and yielding from 3.5 to 4.5 per cent of ammonia Bone-black (waste material), containing from 30 to 34 per cent of phosphoric acid Superphosphate of Lime, containing from 15 to 16 per cent of soluble phosphoric acid Muriate of Potash, containing from 80 to 85 per cent of that compound, equal 50 to 53.7 per cent of potassium oxide Sulphate of Potassa, containing 80 per cent of that compound, which is equal to 43.3 per cent of potassium oxide Sulphate of Potassa, containing from 60 to 65 per cent of that compound, which is equal to from 32.3 to 35 per cent of potassium oxide. I. POTASH-SALTS. The importation of the German potash-salts has been again larger during the past than the previous years. Among the high grades, the muriate of potash has been most extensively used, on account, apparently, of its reliable character during the past, as well as by its comparatively low price. The high grades of the sulphates of potassa have been largely supplied by home-manufactured articles, produced from the muriate of potash by means of sulphuric acid. It is to be regretted, in the interest of our present state of agricultural investigations, that higher grades of potash-salts — containing a liberal percentage of sulphate of magnesia, instead of chloride of sodium, or sulphate of soda-are not offered for sale in desirable quantities and at acceptable prices. The prospect held out at an early period of the present year, to offer an article for sale before the close of season which would contain 80 per cent of muriate of potash and 10 per cent of sulphate of magnesia, has not been realized. Muriate of potash, containing from 80 to 85 per cent of that compound, which is equal to from 50 to 53.5 per cent of potassium oxide, has been sold at from forty-five to fifty dollars per ton of two thousand pounds; in retail, at three cents per pound. This sample consisted of 85 per cent of chloride of potassium and 12.4 per cent of chloride of sodium, and is thus a very good specimen of its kind. The sample was represented to contain 36 per cent of potassium oxide, or 66.5 per cent of sulphate of potassa. It is a product of home manufacture. Both samples were collected of Messrs. W. H. Bowker & Co., Boston, Mass. Sulphate of potassa, containing 80 per cent of that compound, which corresponds to 43.3 per cent of potassium oxide, has been sold at sixty-five dollars per ton of two thousand pounds; in small quantities, at four cents per pound. Samples like the above, containing from 60 to 65 per cent of the sulphate of potassa, have been sold at from fifty-eight to sixty dollars per ton, and at three cents and a half per pound. German potash-salts, containing from 22 to 26 per cent of sulphate of potassa, have been offered in the market at twenty-five dollars per ton; whilst low-grade kainits, containing from 22 to 26 per cent of sulphate of potassa, sold at from eighteen to twenty dollars per ton. Magnesia containing German Potash-Salt (Kainit). Salines like the above sample, are, in most cases, safest applied in the autumn, or in the earlier part of the spring: they produce, like all German potash-salts, as a general rule, more satisfactory results upon a loamy soil than upon either a clayish or sandy soil. The native Leopoldhall kainit has of late largely been used in Germany in place of the lower grades of so-called artificial kainits, and with good results. It has been noticed, that, in case of an early application, its objectional large amount of chlorides passes rapidly, with or without a previous transformation, into the subsoil, aiding thereby in the diffusion of the potassa present. For deep-rooting forage-plants are the kainits in particular recommended. This article has been offered for sale by the General Potash-Salt Depot, No. 120 Liberty Street, New-York City, at thirty-three dollars per ton of two thousand pounds, and at five dollars and a half per barrel of two hundred and fifty pounds. The proprietors recommend its application as an efficient absorber of the ammonia in stables, - an effect which it is well qualified to accomplish, if properly applied. The well-known peculiar re-action of some of its essential constituents, as the chlorides of sodium and magnesium, on plant-growth and on soil, renders it advisable to study carefully its influence on the action of the manures treated with it, before using the substance in a liberal degree. The stable potash purifier contained about 24 per cent of chloride of sodium, or common salt, and 17 per cent of chloride of magnesium, besides 10.2 per cent of chloride of potassium. Sample No. I. was obtained of a dealer in Boston; No. II., of a dealer in New-York City. The former, containing from 60 to 65 per cent of sulphate of magnesia, sold at from twenty to twenty-five dollars per ton; the latter, containing from 50 to 55 per cent of that compound, was offered for sale at from fourteen to fifteen dollars per ton. The use of the crude sulphate of magnesia in part, in place of sulphate of lime, as a superior material for the absorption of ammonia |