350 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



FERTILIZER ANALYSIS. 



BY R. C. KEDZIE. 



Bulletiu 185. — Chemical Depai'tnieut. 



Analy.ses of commercial fertilizers and license for their sale were not required in 

 Micliifran before the year 1885. Free trade of the widest scope was the practice up 

 to that date. Any person having any substance supposed to have fertilizing quality 

 could oiler it for sale without hindrance in this State. Dealers in other states could 

 send in material of small value, but with a catching name, and offer it for sale at 

 such rates as to drive out fertilizers of real value but costing more. The cheats 

 of lower cost and least value could drive out the fertilizer of greater cost and of real 

 value. The average farmer could not tell with certainty from the physical appear- 

 ance of various fertilizers which was the most valuable and which was not worth 

 buying at any price. 



A crisis arose at the ^Iichiga.n State Fair Avhen two manufacturers olTered a 

 "Superphosphate Fertilizer" for the prize. The committee to award the prize had no 

 knowledge of the chemical composition of these two superphosphates, having nothing 

 to guide their opinion but the physical properties of the two materials, reasoned 

 thus: "Here is a superphos])hate of light color and no odor, and for all we can see 

 just as good as the other in other properties, while the other su])erphosphate is 

 black colored and has an offensive odor. Let us give the first prize to the white and 

 inoffensive superphosphate, and the second prize to the black and stinking stufT." 



But the manufacturer of "the black sluli'" would consent to no such award, 

 appealed from the decision of the committee and demanded a chemical analysis 

 of both the superphosphates to determine which was the real, and which the false 

 superphosphate. [Genuine superphosphate contains phosphoric acid readily soluble in 

 water, while common phosphate of lime is insoluble in water. The phosphoric acid 

 that is soluble is nuich more active and valuable as a fertilizer.] Specimens of the two 

 superphosphates were sent here and analyzed by Robert F. Kedzie, then assistant in 

 chemistry, who found that the white and odorless superphosphate did not contain 

 any phosphoric acid soluble in water — was in no sense a superphosjihate, but con- 

 sisted mainly of leached ashes and soap-boilers' waste: while the '"black stufl'" was a 

 genuine superphosphate, having a large amount of soluble phosphoric acid, and still 

 holds a good place in the market. 



WHY A FERTILIZER LAW^ WAS PASSED. 



A few experiences of this kind, reinforced by discovering that inert materials were 

 being shipped into our State and sold as fertilizers at prices out of all proportion 

 to their value, and the knowledge that fertilizers rejected in other states bocause of 

 low values could still be dumped upon our markets, the farmers left to the mercy 

 or avarice of dealers, honest or unscrupulous as the case miirht be, led to a demand 

 on the part of both consumers and honest manufacturers of commercial fertilizers for 

 a law which would compel a statement of the fertilizing materials contained in any 

 commercial man\ire costing more than $10 a ton. The demand was primarily to 

 protect the farmer and fruit-grower from imposition — to enable them to know the 

 kind and quality of the materials they buy for fertilizers: in the second place the 

 aim was to protect the honest manufacturer from the competition of unscrupulous 

 manufacturers and dealers whether in this State or in other states. 



These cons'derations caused the enactment in 1885 of a "law providing for the 

 inspection of commercial fertilizers and to regulate the sale thereof." This la\y is 

 to protect the consumer and to shield the honorable manufacturer from dishonest 

 competition. It was not framed for the benefit of the Agricultural College, or to 

 increase its patronage. A fee is exacted from the J7ianufaeturor or dealer to defray 

 the expense of gathering the specimens for anahsis in the open market ( thus securing 

 the material as actually offered for sale), and to pay for the analysis and other 



