278 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



KICPOKT OF THE CHEMIST. 



Director R. S. Shaw, East Lansing, ^Fich.: 



Dear Sir — I lierewith submit a report of the Chemical division lor 

 the year ending June 30, 1916. 



The work of the Division is now sharply divided between the control 

 or inspection wOrk and the research problems being carried on nnder the 

 Adams and Hatch funds. Owing to the immense amount of detail in- 

 volved in the inspection work the writer has been obliged to turn over 

 to Mr, Robinson, the supervision of all the problems under the Adams 

 fund and his review of the year's work is made a part of this report. 



Mr. O. I>. Winter, who formerly has been connected with the inspec- 

 tion work was advanced to the position of Research Chemist and now 

 devotes his entire time to problems under the Hatch and Adams projects. 

 Mr. Ove Jensen resigned September 1st, 1915, to take up advanced 

 studies at the Iowa Agricultural College. 



The following appointments have been made during the year: 



E. F. Berger, Sept. 1, 1915, Assistant Chemist. 



E. J. Miller, Sept. 1, 1915, Assistant Chemist. 

 A. E. Smoll, Jan. ], 1916, Assistant Chemist. 

 Wells Sizer, Jan. 1, 1916, Inspector. 



F. F. Hebard, Feb. 1, 1916, Inspector. 

 C. F. Barnum, Feb. 10, 1916, Inspector. 

 C. R. Cady, March 1, 1916, Inspector. 



Mr. Sizer resigned April 1st and Mr. Cady on May 1st. 



CONTROL WORK. 



Fertilizer inspection: During the year 303 brands of fertilizer were 

 licensed for sale and 358 different samples were analyzed. A fall collec- 

 tion Avas made for the first time which resulted in our finding a number 

 of unlicensed brands being offered- for sale. On account of this extra 

 work the publication of the annual fertilizer bulletin was delayed until 

 after January 1st. ' The result of the fall collection justifies the expense 

 involved and in the future this plan will be followed. 



In December, 1915, The Mineral Fertilizer Co., Chicago, Illinois, ap- 

 plied for a license to sell their Ku-Life Fertilizer in the State. They 

 complied with all the requirements of the law and a license was accord- 

 ingly issued to them. No shipments were made until early spring, when 

 several cars were sent into the State and a whirlwind campaign was 

 inaugurated to dispose of them among the farmers at |30.00 per ton. It 

 was advertised to be basic-slag and to possess wonderful fertilizer prop- 

 erties. Upon analysis, however, we found it to be a mixture of rock 

 ]»hosphate and a material which resembles, both in appearance and chem- 

 ical composition, the slag from an open hearth iron furnace. Further, 

 our examination shows that 85% of the phosphoric acid contained in 

 the mixture is derived from the rock phosi)hate. By personal corres- 



