6 Francis Humphreys Stör er [March, 



ignorance) in Holding up the names of too many chemicals to the 

 gaze of the great and unsoaked public. It is bad enough to have 

 to report the ' fat' of hay as if it were really oil. What we really 

 need is a critical sifting of all the analyses with the view of dis- 

 covering the best possible means, in the light of existing knowledge. 

 The question is one of chemistry far more than of arithmetic. 

 There are manifold instances of 'maxima' and 'minima' which 

 could be thrown out at once, for cause." 



The first results of Storer's labors were published in 1874, which 

 was during pre-experiment Station (federal) days, in the Bussey 

 Bulletm. The first bulletin emanating from an experiment Station 

 in the United States was published in August 1877, by Samuel W. 

 Johnson. The first Bussey Bulletin was entitled " A report of the 

 results obtained on examining some commercial fertilizers, by way 

 of analysis," by F. H. Storer (in 1874). 



The analyses reported were incidental to field experiments un- 

 dertaken by the Bussey Institution in behalf of the trustees of the 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. The field tests 

 were made for the purpose of testing the efficiency of a variety of 

 substances sold in Boston and supposed to possess fertilizing power. 

 The early bulletins on agricultural subjects are not mere reports 

 of analyses, but worthy discussions of the topics and they are 

 easily comparable with the ones issued by the best agricultural 

 experiment stations of today. Thus in Bussey Bulletin No. 2 we 

 find the f ollowing : " As regards the item * cellulose,' for example, 

 the table shows conclusively that while hay contains 30 percent of 

 Woody fiber, so compact that it can withstand the tolerably long- 

 continued action of dilute acid and alkali ; that while oats contain 

 10 and one-third per cent, brewers' grains 6.2 per cent (in a total 

 of only 22 and one-quarter per cent of dry organic matter), and 

 dry whiteweed 31 per cent of this resisting substance, bran yields 

 no more than eight and one-third per cent of it when exposed to 

 precisely similar treatment, and maize only about three per cent. 

 The method ordinarily used for determining cellulose is undoubt- 

 edly far from being perfect, as I may have occasion to show in a 

 future communication." 



Professor Storer had a prof ound respect for the work done by 



