13 



Collection This important part of the fertilizer inspection has been 

 of in charge of our regular inspector, who has had eight years' 



Samples, experience. He has been assisted in this work by 

 two other men, one of whom has had three years' ex- 

 perience in collection work. 



Sampling ni Jdvance of Regular Season. Arrangements were 

 made, as in the past, to sample carloads of wood ashes, cottonseed 

 meal and chemicals, as well as mixed fertilizers, upon call from the 

 purchaser. Many of these calls came in early winter, when the 

 regular inspector was otherwise engaged, in which case it was necessa- 

 ry to employ one of the assistant chemists, or someone especially 

 trained for the work, and the owner or purchaser of the fertilizer was 

 asked to pay the traveling expenses of the sampler. These early 

 shipments are usually either cash purchases or to be paid for upon 

 analysis. The samples are, therefore, promptly analyzed and re- 

 ported. The demand for this work necessitates, in some cases, a 

 relatively large number of analyses of the same brand, as the carload 

 becomes a unit. Some of the shippers of cottonseed meal have 

 recognized that the analysis of a large number of samples is somewhat 

 burdensome and have, at our request, reimbursed the station to the 

 extent of $2.00 for each carload analyzed, allowance being made for 

 the testing of four samples in payment for the regular registration 

 fee of $8.00. The Humphreys-Godwin Company and the Union 

 Seed & Fertilizer Company have co-operated with the station in 

 this work, as they seem to be the largest shippers of cottonseed meal 

 for fertilizing purposes. 



Samples taken in Duplicate. In the collection of all fertilizer 

 samples, duplicates are always taken and one sealed sample is pre- 

 served for the use of the manufacturer or shipper. It is also planned 

 to sample each brand in several localities, if possible, so as to make 

 use of a composite sample in the analytical work, as it is believed 

 that the larger the tonnage sampled, the more representative is the 

 inspection. 



Method of Sampling. During the year considerable discussion 

 has taken place among the manufacturing chemists as to the nature 

 of the sampling tube used in drawing samples for the inspection work 

 in the different States, and a tube was recommended which terminated 

 in a point and which could be opened and closed after insertion in 

 the bag. A tube of this type was given a trial in Massachusetts 

 during 1913-1914, and its use was discontinued on account of the 

 lodging of small particles of fertilizer between the movable parts 

 of the tube. The tube which has been used at this station with entire 

 satisfaction is open at the end, which is sharp and elliptical in shape. 

 About three-fourths of an inch from the lower end, a slit about one- 

 fourth of an inch wide is made, running up the tube to within a few 



