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F u J a fe;: We et t 
142 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
From the above it will, lthink, appear evident that there is little work 
more desirable to be done in the interests of agriculture than to protect. 
the farmer from fraud in the matter of fertilizers. Their use, especially 
in the older States, has become a necessity, and their sale aggregates 
millions of dollars annually. At the present we appear to be passing 
through an experience similar to that of England and Germany, but 
it is to be hoped more rapidly. 
It must be apparent at a glance that there is in the manufacture and 
sale of these fertilizers room for most gigantic fraud, and indeed evi- 
dence is not wanting to show that in every country, not even except- 
Ing our own, men have been found unprincipled enough to avail them-- 
selves of these advantages. 
Chemical analysis can alone suffice to determine the composition’ ‘and 
value of a fertilizer; and this involves considerable expense. 
Shortly after the introduction of commercial fertilizers in England 
the most excessive frauds were practiced upon the farming community, 
and even so late as 1855 Professor Voelcker declared “that if ever there 
was a time when the agriculturist had need to exercise special caution 
in the purchase of artificial manures that time is the present, for the 
practice of adulterating standard fertilizers, such as guanos, superphos- 
phates, &c., has reached an alarming extent.” 
At this present time, however, in England and upon the Continent, 
these manufactories have for the greater part passed into the hands of 
intelligent capitalists, who are content with fair and legitimate profits, 
and for the interest of whom it is to maintain 's respectable standard for 
their products. 
In our own country the same is to a great extent true, but by no means 
is it universal. During the past few years there have been enacted in 
nearly all of the older States stringent laws regulating the sale of these 
fertilizers, and the trade has been. watched over by legally constituted 
inspectors. 
The result of this has been that with the increased intelligence of the 
people concerning the function and character of these fertilizers, to- 
gether with a rigid enforcement of the laws regulating their sale, their 
intrinsic value has very greatly increased, and the worthless frauds 
have been withdrawn from the market. 
But the universal experience in England, Germany, and this countr Vy 
has been that this supervision must be constant, since the incentive to 
fraud is so great and its consummation SO easy. Very many leading agri- 
culturists of the country have suggested as an important feature of the 
work which should employ the Chemical Division of this department the 
supervision and control of this matter of commercial fertilizers. To 
quote irom many ‘expressed opinions concerning this matter, Hon. Har- 
ris Lewis, late president of the New York State A er icaltural Society, 
writes as follows: 
After giving this subject what attention I could, I have come to the conclusion that 
there is no way in which the Department of Agriculture can aid the farmers of this 
country more than by a careful analysis of the commerciai fertilizers seld on the 
matket. The use of these fertilizers has become a necessity in the older States, 
a necessity which is to increase from year to year. There is not one farmer in five 
hundred thousand able to tell their value except by actual trial, and that must be 
made after his money is gone. I hope the Department will be able to aid us in this 
matter. 
And President Phillips, of the University of North Carolina, says: 
It seems tome that the Department will do our ages most good by showing them 
how to defend themselves against fraud in what they buy, as seeds, fertilizers, &c. 
