126 Report of the Chemist of the 



V. When fertilizers contain leather or similar inert products, 

 the fact must be explicitly and conspicuously stated on each 

 package. 



VI. Statement of Work Accomplished. Since July, 1890, 

 there have been collected and analyzed by this Station over 2,700 

 samples of commercial fertilizers, manufactured by over 120 dif- 

 ferent firms. During this time eleven million pages of printed 

 matter have been distributed among farmers in the form of 

 bulletins. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In 1878 the first attempt was made by legislative enactment 

 to afford protection against fraud to purchasers of commercial 

 fertilizers. The law proved a failure, because no provisions 

 were made for its execution. After occasional agitation of the 

 subject for ten years, a systematic effort was made to secure a 

 new law which should be a practical measure. Work done at 

 this Station brought to light the existence of serious frauds and 

 aroused a new and strong interest in the matter. Finally, in 

 1890 a law was passed, the execution of which was placed in 

 charge of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva. Ef- 

 forts to enforce the provisions of this statute revealed exceeding 

 looseness in its language and other serious defects. The general 

 principles embraced in the act were satisfactory to both con- 

 sumers and manufacturers, but, in its practical working, it was 

 found difficult to carry through prosecutions against offending 

 parties. The first prosecution begun under the enactment of 

 1890 was successful in the lower court, but, on appeal to the 

 supreme court, the decision of the lower court was reversed on 

 account of certain technical defects in the statute. An effort 

 was made to remedy these defects by amendments which became 

 operative May 9, 1894. Again proceedings were instituted 

 against violators of the law, but only to show that the statute 

 was practically useless so far as it caused offenders to be pun- 

 ished by legal process. So serious were the defects of the enact- 

 ment of 1890 that it was decided to secure the passage of a new 

 law. A new law was prepared by a committee appointed by the 



