FERTILIZER ANALYSES 



Bulletin No. 287. 



The iuspectioii and analysis of commercial fertilizer, sold, ofifered or 

 exposed for sale in Michigan is made under authority of an act of the 

 Legislature approved March 10, 1885, and as amended during the session 

 of 1913. The full text of the law will be sent to any person upon request. 



LICENSED BRANDS. 



During the year 1919, 40 manufacturers and fertilizer companies 

 licensed 371 brands for sale In the State. This is the largest number 

 of brands ever licensed in one year. Attention is called to the fact that 

 the fertilizer law covers only tliose materials which are sold, offered or 

 exposed for sale within the State, the retail price of which is flO.OO or 

 more per ton. Manufacturers residing outside the State may ship direct 

 to the consumer without paying the license fee but the party making 

 the purchase receives no protection under the law. If the sale of fer- 

 tilizer to be shipi^ed direct to the consumer is made by an agent or 

 representative of the manufacturer while in the State, the act is con- 

 sidered as one of actually offering the material itself for sale, and the 

 fertilizer then becomes subject to the requirements of the law just as 

 surely as-though the fertilizer were actually brought into the State and 

 tlien sold. Consequently, an agent of a fertilizer company is technically 

 violating the law when he solicits or accepts orders for any unlicensed 

 fertilizer, while in the State. 



COLLECTION OF SAMPLES. 



The collection of samples was made during the spring and fall ship- 

 ping seasons by inspectors appointed by the State Board of Agriculture. 



All sections of the State in which fertilizers are used to any extent 

 were visited and 1,083 samples were secured from stocks being offered 

 for sale by dealers. For this purpose a specially constructed tube is 

 used which permits of securing a core from the entire length of the bag. 

 An official sample consists of the cores taken from not less than five 

 separate sacks of the same brand. The five or more separate cores are 

 mixed together, placed in a stout sack, tied, sealed and forwarded to 

 the laboratory for analysis. 



Much of the fertilizer used in the State is taken directly from the cars 

 by the consumers and it is never possible for the inspectors to secure 

 samples of all the brands registered. It sometimes happens that a 

 manufacturer fails, for some reason or other, to sell any of a particular 

 brand or tlie sales may be very light and in the latter case it is only by 

 chance that a sample is found. 



Dui-ing the past year, 23 registered brands were not shipped into the 

 State. It was formerly the custom, whenever we failed to find a brand 



