208 BOARD^OF AGRICULTURE. 



season, our clerks made mistakes, and it laid us open : there- 

 fore we thought, in justice to ourselves, we must put in that 

 limit. We propose to remedy that next year. We do not 

 propose to have that accusation brought against us again. 

 How do we propose to do it ? We propose, if we have a bag 

 of a given fertilizer that weighs one hundred and eighty- 

 eight pounds, to make it weigh two hundred pounds in 

 every case. Therefore we can state an absolute test. In 

 some cases, you will have to pay freight on two or three 

 pounds of crude material, to bring it up ; but we propose to 

 have a stated weight for each bag, and be able to state an 

 absolute test. If the people of Sutton had asked us for a 

 written guaranty, we would have given them a written 

 guaranty as to the analysis of the material which they 

 bought in every case. And, as I have said before, if they 

 have got any of those bags preserved, and will report at our 

 office the letter that is on each bag, we will go over our 

 books, and give them the exact analysis of every thing which 

 they bought ; and if Professor Goessmann does not find that 

 the material comes up to those tests which we will give, 

 then I will pay for the test, and forfeit a thousand dollars. 

 It is for the interest of every manufacturer of fertilizers, and 

 of every man who sells chemicals, if he would continue his 

 business, to sell reliable articles. 



A remark that Mr. Moore once made occurs to me. He 

 and I have had long talks on this subject ; and he said to me 

 once, that, if I remained in the fertilizer business five years, 

 and continued honest, I should be an exception to the rule. 

 I have been in the business five years ; and I leave it to you, 

 and to my record in the agricultural reports, to determine 

 whether I have been an honest dealer. I refer to those 

 reports with pride. Gentlemen, that is all I have to say. 



Mr. Waed of Bridgewater. The fertilizer that I manufac- 

 ture has been referred to. The fertilizer from which that 

 analysis was made was obtained of the chairman of this 

 meeting (Mr. Had wen). After seeing the analysis of that 

 fertilizer in the Massachusetts Agricultural Report, I wrote 

 to the chairman of the meeting, and asked him if he had any 

 of it on hand, and if that which Professor Goessmann obtained 

 was out of that parcel which I sold him. He said that it 

 was, and that he had some of it left. I asked him to send me 



