EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 251 



FERTILIZER ANALYSES. 



BuHetin No. 263. 



ANDREW J. PATTEN, O. B. WINTER AND C. G. CLIPPERT. 



SUMMARY OP FERTILIZER LAW. 



The inspection and analyses of the commercial fertilizers offered for 

 sale in Michigan are made under authority of an act of the Legislature, 

 approved March 10, 1S85. The full text of the law has been printed in 

 former bulletins, and its salient points alone will be referred to here. 

 It provides that all commercial fertilizers, retailing for more than ten 

 dollars per ton, shall be accompanied by a statement certifying the 

 number of net pounds in the given sack, the brand, name and address 

 of the manufacturer, and a chemical analysis stating the percentages of 

 nitrogen, of potash soluble in water, of available (soluble and reverted) 

 phosphoric acid, and the insoluble phosphoric acid. (Sec. 1.) It pro- 

 \ides that the manufacturer, importer or agent (the latter only in case 

 the manufacturer fails to comply with the law), shall pay annually a 

 license fee of twenty dollars for each brand offered for sale. (Sec. 3.) 

 It provides that any person offering unguaranteed or over-guaranteed 

 goods, shall be subject to a fine. (Sec. 6.) The full text will be fiiv- 

 nished on application. 



LICENSED BRANDS. 



Twenty-four manufacturers and fertilizer companies have licensed 

 208 distinct brands for sale in the state during the season of 1910. 

 These brands, appearing in the following tables of analyses, and no 

 others can be legally sold. 



Parties manufacturing or importing fertilizers for their own use and 

 not for sale are not affected by the restrictions of the law. 



COLLECTION OF SAMPLES. 



The sampling agents of the Station, during the months of April, May 

 and June, drew 404 samples from dealers' stocks representing 181 dif- 

 ferent brands. The failure to get samples of 27 brands is due to the fact 

 that many of them are sold only in the fall, then, too, a few companies 

 sell direct to the consumer through the Grange and other organizations 

 and consequently it is only by chance that samples of such goods are 

 obtained. If persons ordering goods in this way wish to have them in- 

 spected they will protect themselves and at the same time confer a 

 favor on this department by notifying us, and upon the arrival of the 

 goods an inspector will be sent to draw samples. 



