No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 117 



"The use of such low grade materials is either to make the fer- 

 tilizer less likely to become sticky or lumpy, or to supply nitrogen 

 from materials that would otherwise be wholly thrown to waste. The 

 use of 'conditioners' for the former purpose is, in itself, desirable 

 rather than objectionable; but becomes obnoxious and unjust when 

 the nitrogen they contain in unavailable form is made the basis of 

 a charge at high rates to the buyer. The use also of low grade and 

 therefore cheap nitrogen supplies whose nitrogen has, by chemical 

 •treatment, been made useful for plant food, is laudable provided the 

 materials are sold for what they are, instead of being sold at the 

 prices of the nitrogen in high grade nitrogenous ingredients. 



"In cases where the inactive insoluble nitrogen forms a large frac- 

 tion of the total nitrogen, is marked by the index 'c,' the guaranty 

 does not exceed the available nitrogen by an amount equal to most 

 of the 'inactive,' and the selling price, corrected for freight difference, 

 is not considerably less than that asked for fertilizers of like gen- 

 eral composition but supplying nitrogen derived from high grade 

 goods, such as bear the index 'a' or even 'b,' there is reason to believe 

 that the buyer is subjected to unfair treatment. 



"Section 1 of the Fertilizer Law of 1909 requires that the guaranty 

 for a fertilizer shall state 'the percentage such fertilizer contains 

 of nitrogen in an available form.' It is however, by no means clear 

 that the term 'available,' as used in the law, means precisely that 

 same thing that is meant by that term when used to designate the 

 sum of the water-soluble and active insoluble nitrogen, as determined 

 by the present method. For some nitrogenous fertilizer ingredients 

 always regarded as of high grade, such as dried blood, meat tankage, 

 and cottonseed meal, contains considerable fractions of inactive in- 

 soluble nitrogen when examined by this method. Until further no- 

 tice, therefore, the law will not be construed to require that the 

 amount of nitrogen guaranteed shall not exceed that present in a 

 form that will appear as 'available' by the alkaline permanganate 

 method now in use." 



For lack of funds the department has not been able to cover the 

 entire State in the fertilizer sampling work. 



The fact that one thousand eight hundred thirty-four brands were 

 registered and only one thousand one hundred ninety-four found 

 and sampled by tlie agents of the Department, shows conclusively 

 that more time than four weeks in the spring and a like period in 

 the fall should be devoted to this work. The State having been di- 

 vided into fifteen districts, with an average of four counties to each 

 agent to be covered in this limited period, results in fertilizers be- 

 ing received by consumers before the arrival and after the departure 

 of the agents, and carted to points which the agents can not reach 

 without interfering with his itinerary. 



When it is realized that but one sample is secured for each one 

 hundred tons of fertilizer shipped into this State, and further, that 

 more than six hundred registered brands and chemicals are not lo- 

 cated, it is evident that the field force should be increased and the 

 State re-districted so that each agent can give more attention to the 

 consumers' receiving stations of his district, also allow him more 

 time to follow railroads, also to detect violations of the laws and 

 apprehend the offenders. 



