19 



bination of minerals to be wholly soluble and available for plant life after 

 being properly mixed with the soil as fast as the plants need them." 



The product which has been sold during the season of 1918 was derived 

 largely from a new quarry located at Byron, Me. In chemical composition 

 it is very much like the product formerly produced at Rumford, Me., which 

 was used in the field experiments conducted at this station in 1913 and 1914, 

 detailed results of which were published in the Massachusetts fertilizer bul- 

 letins for those years. The results of these studies, as well as those of a care- 

 fully conducted pot experiment made in 1917, which on account of lack of 

 funds have not been published, show conclusively that the ground rock has but 

 little value as a source of plant food. The Byron product tests as follows: — 



Per Cent. 



Total potassium oxide dissolved by strong hydrofluoric acid, . . . . 2. 14 



Potassium oxide soluble in hot water, 06 



Total acid soluble phosphoric acid, 27 



Acid soluble calcium oxide, 1.26 



During the month of May, members of the Massachusetts Food Adminis- 

 tration, in co-operation with officials from the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, held a public hearing at the State House in Boston on 

 the subject of " Nature's Plant Food." The company, represented by coun- 

 sel, was asked to show that their product possessed substantial properties as 

 a fertilizer, as well as their justification for nearly doubling the price of the 

 material. Evidence was given at the hearing in regard to the crop-producing 

 value of the product, the data being furnished by carefully conducted field 

 and pot experiments made at the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. The hearing lasted several days, being put over several times to 

 accommodate the company in procuring witnesses, who claimed to have used 

 the material with good results, to testify in its favor. No positive proof was 

 presented that the product was actually responsible for any increased growth 

 of crop, as it was used in every instance as a supplement to farm manure or 

 fertilizer or both. 



The Federal authorities at Washington were advised in regard to the 

 hearing, and after due deliberation decided to reopen the case, which was 

 done in August. The matter was gone into in very careful detail at this hear- 

 ing, but no decision was rendered, nor has yet been rendered, as it was thought 

 desirable to await the results of two vegetation tests with the material which 

 are being conducted at the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and four different co-operative tests which are under study in different parts 

 of the State by county agricultural agents. 



