EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 305 



State, a quantity, not exceeding two pounds, for a sample, such sample to be used for 

 the purposes of an official analysis and for comparison with the certificate filed with the 

 secretary of the State Board of Agriculture and with the certificate affixed to t he- 

 package on sale. 



Sec. 8. All suits for the recovery of fines under the provisions of this act shall be 

 brought under the direction of the State Board of Agriculture. 



Approved March 10, 1885. 



OBJECT OF INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



There are several objects to be secured by this law and by publishing the results of 

 inspection and chemical analyses. 



1. It gives the manufacturers opportunity to place before the public the names and 

 amounts of the materials they claim as making their several fertilizers. 



2. It enables the consumer to compare the amount of fertilizing material as claimed 

 with that actually found in the fertilizers offered for sale in the public market. 



3. Where a farmer or fruit grower wants to use a fertilizer of certain composition, 

 by consulting the Bulletin he may find the one that approaches nearest his desire. 



4. It gives honorable position and recognition to the honest manufacturer and exposes 

 the tricky dealer. It is manifestly in the interest of honest dealers and of consumers of 

 every class to sustain a law for the protection of all parties. 



The law does not prescribe any standard for the composition of a commercial fertilizer, 

 the manufacturer being free to make his own standard, the law simply requiring that the 

 fertilizers offered for sale shall be up to the standard set by the manufacturer. The 

 license to sell does not certify to the value of the fertilizer, but simply states that tin 

 manufacturer or dealer offers for sale a fertilizer for which a certain content of nitrogen, 

 potash and phosphoric acid is claimed, and that samples of such fertilizers have been 

 deposited with the secretary of the college with affidavit regarding the composition. 

 Analysis is then made of each of these fertilizers, gathered in the open market as far as 

 possible, and the results of such analysis published in bulletin. The claimed composition 

 and found composition are arranged in parallel lines, so that the real composition can 

 be compared at a glance with the composition claimed for it by the manufacturer. In 

 this way the buyer can see at once by this bulletin whether the fertilizer is as good as 

 the claims made for it. The materials to be determined in such analysis are "nitrogen 

 in available form, potash soluble in water, phosphoric acid in available form, and the 

 insoluble phosphoric acid." The chemists of Europe and America have selected these 

 same materials as determining the chief value of commercial fertilizers, and in every 

 state of our union where the law prescribes chemical analysis of commercial manure- 

 as one condition of sale, these are the materials to be determined as the basis of value. 



These are not the only materials concerned in raising crops, but they are the only 

 materials for which the farmer can afford to pay more than ten dollars a ton. 



LEADING KINDS OF FERTILIZERS. 



The leading kinds of fertilizers may be classified as follows: 



1. Complete Manure, which contains nitrogen in some combination, such as a salt 

 of ammonia, nitrate of soda, or organic nitrogen; potash, as muriate or sulphate 

 (German Stassfurth salts) or wood ashes; and phosphoric acid as a phosphate of lime. 

 It is called a complete manure because it contains all of the three materials most 

 essential for plant growth, and most likely to be deficient in a field after long cropping. 



2. Plain Phosphate, which may be in the form of superphosphate, soluble in water or 

 solution of citrate of ammonia, these being called available, because they are readily 

 taken up by the roots of plants; and ground phosphate rock, an insoluble form. The 

 bone phosphate and rock phosphate are changed into superphosphate by the action of 

 sulphuric acid, removing a part of the lime, as sulphate. 



39 



