438 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The following are iu substaiice the main points iu the Michigan fertilizer 

 law, passed in 1885, and are operative for all fertilizers the retail price of 

 which is over $10 per ton: 1st, That a label tag bearing results of analysis shall 

 be attached to every fertilizer offered for sale. 2d, That a sealed package 

 containing a fair sample of each brand of fertilizer on sale shall be deposited 

 with the secretary of the Board of Agriculture. 3d, That a license fee of 

 120 shall also be deposited with the secretary for each such brand offered for 

 sale in the State. 4th, That an analysis of each such brand shall be made at 

 least once a year. 5th, That the Board of Agriculture may at any time 

 authorize an analysis to be made of any fertilizer, that the results of such 

 analysis may be compared with those on the label. 6th, That a fine of not 

 less than 8100 shall be imposed for the first offense in violating this law, and 

 $300 for the second offense. These fertilizer laws are thoroughly appreciated 

 by all honest manufacturers, and to-day you may feel assured that you get 

 what you buy in the fertilizer line. 



Now, what do you buy? This depends of course on the kind of fertilizer, 

 but in an ordinary superphosphate you will get from 8 to 11 per cent of avail- 

 able phosphoric acid, worth by Kentucky estimates 11 cents per pound, (and 

 ^ to 1^ per cent of insoluable phosphoric acid worth 5 cents per pound,) or 

 together worth $22 per ton. This phosphoric acid the manufacturer has added 

 to the fertilizer, not without cost, by the use of tankage, which from sugar 

 refineries contains about 12 per cent of phosphoric acid and costs about §14 

 per ton. Waste black from sugar refineries, costing $20 per ton, or bone 

 black dust worth from 840 to 860 per ton, and containing about 35 per cent 

 of phosphoric acid. Mineral phosphate containing 25 per cent of phosphoric 

 and costing about 86 per ton in the insoluble form, or 821.30 per ton in the 

 soluble form. This same superphosphate will contain also about 2 8-10 per 

 cent of ammonia, worth 16^ cent per pound, or 89.24 per ton. The nitrogen 

 of this ammonia was obtained from the tankage previously mentioned, or 

 from sulphate of ammonia, which costs about 24 cents per pound. There will 

 be present, too, in the superphosphate about 2^ per cent of potash, worth 5 

 cents per pound, or 82.25 per ton. The potash is generally obtained from 

 muriate of potash, costing about 4 cents per pound. The commercial value 

 of this fertilizer by the above estimates would be about 833.50. It is useless 

 for me to say that the phosphorus, nitrogen and potash must all be added to 

 the fertilizer before they will be found in it by the chemist who analyzes the 

 sample. Nature is never cheated in the realm of chemistry, though many 

 appear to think so. 



Let me add in closing this portion of the subject that the price per ton is 

 not important if the analysis gives an equivalent value, in fact, if the analy- 

 sis gives the equivalent the higher the price (within certain limits) the better 

 for the purchaser ; that is, one ton of an article yielding 20 per cent of an 

 available phosphoric acid, at a cost of 850 per ton, is relatively cheaper than 

 two tons of a ten per cent article at 825 per ton, for the purchaser saves the 

 expense of manufacturing, shipping, hauling and applying the extra ton, and 

 also the manufacturer's profit on two tons instead of one. (In England 

 higher priced fertilizers are generally used.) Ir, is a too common idea in 

 America that as long as "it is only a fertilizer anyway " the cheaper it can 

 be purchased the better. However successful dishonesty may be in other 

 affairs you can't cheat your soil or your crops one iota in regard to what is 

 food and what is not. Further, it is alvays the universal experience that 

 whenever a good fertilizer is used at least its cost will be returned to the far- 



