EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 163 



costly fertilizers offered for sale, whether in separate salts or in a mix- 

 ture of materials, because the salts may vary in purity as well as com- 

 pounds. It is plain that every material offered for sale as a fertilizer 

 should he inspected and licensed if the price exceeds |10 a ton. The State 

 Board of Agriculture has no power to modify or change the law, but it 

 is its duty to enforce the law in such way as to protect both the farmer 

 and the honest manufacturer. 



If these foreign manufacturers are unwilling to place their goods in 

 the open light of day by showing their real composition and thus come 

 in fair competition with reputable dealers, it would be prudent for deal- 

 ers to refuse to handle their goods, and thus save themselves from the 

 severe penalty for selling unlicensed fertilizers. It would be wise for 

 farmers to refuse to buy fertilizers whose composition they do not know, 

 and of whose intrinsic value they have no assurance. It would be well 

 to leave such fertilizers severely alone. It is the manifest duty of the 

 Board of Agriculture to enforce the law against the dealers in unlicensed 

 fertilizers. When such dealer has paid a fine of f 100 for the sale of an 

 unlicensed fertilizer, he will conclude that there may be more profit in 

 dealing in legitimate goods. 



MANUFACTURERS SHOULD PROTECT THEIR RETAIL DEALERS. 



By the proviso to section 3 of the law a dealer in this State is not 

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

 facturer has taken out a license for such fertilizer. In this way the man- 

 ufacturer 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 analysis and cer- 

 tification of every fertilizer sold in the State. If, then, any manufac- 

 turer 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 Sta e. 



OBJECT OF INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



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

 mercial fertilizer, the manufacturei* being free to make his own standard, 

 the law simply requiring that the fertilizers offered for sale shall be up 

 to the standard set up by the manufacturer. The license to sell does not 

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

 turer or deaier offers fo^ sale a fertilizer for which a certain content of 

 nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid is claimed, and that samples of such 

 fertilizers have been deposited 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 composition 

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

 composition can be compared at a glance with the composition claimed 

 for it by the manufacturer. In this way the buyer can see at once by 

 this bulletin whether the fertilizer is as good as the claims made for it. 



