CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 385 



trade in competition with dealers who have paid their license fee and 

 demand the protection of the law. 



MANUFACTURERS SHOULD TROTECT THEIR RETAIL DEALERS, 



« 



By the proviso to section 8 of the law a dealer in this State is not 

 required to take out a license for the sale of any fertilizer if the man- 

 ufacturer has taken out a license for such fertilizer. In this way the 

 manufacturer can protect all his agents in this State by payment of a 

 single fee. Otherwise each dealer must take out a license. The object 

 of the law is not merely to collect a revenue, but to secure the analy- 

 sis and certification of every fertilizer sold in the State. If, then, any 

 manufacturer neglects or refuses to take out a license for his goods, 

 it would be a matter of prudence for all dealers to refuse his goods, 

 and sell only the fertilizers of such manufacturers as will protect their 

 agents in the State. If outside manufacturers neglect their State 

 agents, then the law exacts the fee for license from each dealer in the 

 State. 



One Cleveland party refuses to pay for a license on nitrate of soda, 

 which is largely used for fertilizer, because they did not manufacture 

 the material and sold it simply as a chemical substance, " and in no 

 State in the Union do we pay a license fee for selling them." 



A letter addressed to the person in charge of the chemical depart- 

 ment of the Ohio experiment station elicited the reply, " but should it 

 be oflfered to the farmers as a ' fertilizer ' it would have to be regis- 

 tered as such and analyzed, and the packages marked with analysis. 

 The fact of its importation would be of no consequence; we consider 

 merely whether it is on the market as a fertilizer and sold to farmers." 

 In many of the eastern states it is considered as requiring the same 

 treatment for license as other fertilizers. Under these conditions the 

 chloride and sulphate of potassium, nitrate of sodium and similar com- 

 mercial salts used for fertilizers will require a license fee in this State. 



It may seem a hardship to the dealer to require a license from each 

 one for every brand of fertilizer he offers for sale. Yet it is obvious 

 that the system of inspecting and licensing is necessary to protect the 

 farmers from heavy loss. If a license is required of one, it must be 

 required of all, 



OBJECT OF INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS, 



The law does not prescribe any standard for the composition of a com- 

 mercial 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 ujd by the manufacturer. The license to sell does not 

 certify to the value of the fertilizer, but simply states that the manufact- 

 urer 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 c''eposited 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 compositioji 

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

 49 



