New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 27 



In 1898, 1,900 brands were registered in this office and the 

 Station actually collected for analysis 1,427 samples repre- 

 senting 901 brands, at an expense greatly above the money appro- 

 priated by the State for this purpose. No such burden is laid 

 upon an experiment station in any other State simply because in 

 all other States the fertilizer trade, either through a license fee, 

 analysis fee or a ton tax, pays the expenses of inspection. In 

 New York the State is assessed, and manufacturers, without 

 additional expense to themselves, may add a new brand, even if 

 not more than a carload is sold. If the creation of the new names 

 had any significance or value whatever, there would be less cause 

 for criticism. As it is, hundreds of the brands sold in New York 

 are essentially alike in the plant food which they furnish, 

 nearly all of the so-called special fertilizers having no scientific or 

 practical justification. It is not necessary to create a new brand 

 every time a farmer or body of farmers wishes for a particular 

 mixture of plant food, neither is it necessary to humor the desire 

 of every local trader for a brand in his name, thereby causing large 

 expense to the State. 



In view of this situation I recommend that the Legislature of 

 1899 be asked to require the payment of a license fee for each 

 brand of fertilizer put upon the market. Out of twenty-nine 

 States which require fertilizer inspection New York is the only one 

 which pays the expense from the State treasury. 



I desire in this connection to call especial attention to certain 

 facts presented by Dr. Van Slyke in Bulletins 145 and 148, rela- 

 tive to the fertilizer trade. 



Few matters are more important to agriculture at the present 

 time than is the extensive traffic in plant food. It is estimated 

 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture that in 1896 there was 

 sold in the State 150,000 tons of fertilizers at a cost to the farmers 

 of $4,621,500. But one other State is a larger consumer of these 

 goods than is New York, due in part to her extensive market 

 gardening interests. Without discussing the question whether 

 bo large a purchase of plant food is wise or even necessary, it is 



