CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 309 



NO. 52— CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



In this report of the results of analysis of commercial fertilizers offered 

 or sale in this State during the year 1889, the law requiring inspection of 

 such commercial fertilizers is re-printed for the information of manufact- 

 urers, dealers and the public. The law is designed primarily for the pro- 

 tection of the buyer, to insure a quality of goods up to the standard of the 

 manufacturers, and to expose fraud if goods of very inferior quality are 

 placed on the market. Incidentally the law is a protection to the manu- 

 facturer, by excluding worthless goods offered as valuable fertilizers. Honest 

 And reliable manufacturers do not complain of this law, for the reason that 

 while it protects the public from fraud, it also protects legitimate trade 

 from ruinous competition with unscrupulous dealers. 



The law is very direct and explicit in its terms. Every fertilizer whose 

 retail price exceeds ten dollars a ton requires a license from each dealer, 

 unless the manfacturer secures a license for such sale. Each separate brand 

 of fertilizers requires a license for each year it is sold or offered for sale. It 

 ■makes no difference on what kind of crop the fertilizer will be used — the 

 farm, garden, or lawn. Nor does the law wait for the manufacturer to 

 establish a profitable trade before it requires a license to sell. 



It may seem a hardship to require a dealer who had only sold a few tons 

 of a fertilizer to pay for a license, but the law pays no respect to the amount 

 sold. It would be wise for dealers to inquire of the manufacturer whether 

 he has taken out a license for each fertilizer before he accepts an agency for 

 its sale. The very stringent provisions of section 6 of this law, imposing a 

 fine of at least $100 for selling or offering for sale any such fertilizer with- 

 out first taking out a license, should warn dealers of the danger of seeking 

 to evade this law. A few are seeking to escape the provisions of this law to 

 their own peril. In justice to honorable and fair dealers, the law must be 

 ■enforced on all alike. 



SESSION LAWS OF 1885. 



[No. 26.] 



AN ACT to provide for the inspection of commercial fertilizers and to 



regulate the sale thereof. 



Section 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That any person 

 or persons who shall sell or offer for sale in this State any commercial fertil- 

 izer, the retail price of which exceeds ten dollars per ton, shall affix on the 

 •outside of every package containing such fertilizer a plainly printed certifi- 



