v 



LCUU 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



CIRCULAR No. 3, Second revised edition. 



BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



PROPOSED REFORMS IN FERTILIZER INSPECT!) 



The present edition of this circular contains the resolut! 

 by the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 

 ment Stations and the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. 

 At a meeting of official inspectors of fertilizers in New Haven, 

 Conn., March 9, 1897, a committee was appointed to consider reforms 

 in the laws on inspection of fertilizers. The report of this committee 

 was as follows : 



Pursuant to a call issued at the instance of Dr. H. J. Wheeler, a meeting of 

 chemists, charged with the official inspection of fertilizers, was held at New 

 Haven, Conn., with a view to consider needed reforms in the methods of ferti- 

 lizer inspection. At that meeting it was decided, after a general discussion of 

 the subject, to appoint a committee to consider the matter, and, if possible, to 

 obtain a conference of the committee with the association of manufacturers of 

 and dealers in fertilizers in the United States. The committee appointed at 

 New Haven was constituted as follows : 



Dr. H. J. Wheeler, of Kingston, R. I., Chairman. 



Director H. P. Armsby, State College, Pa. 



Director C. D. Woods, Orono, Me. 



Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of Division of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. 



Pursuant to a call issued by the chairman of the committee, a meeting was 

 held at the Clarendon Hotel, New York City, N. Y., beginning on Tuesday, 

 May 18, 1897. The meeting of this committee was continued for three days, 

 during which time the subject of needed reforms in fertilizer inspection was 

 fully discussed. Several joint meetings were also held with a committee 

 appointed by the association of fertilizer manufacturers and dealers in the 

 United States. This committee consisted of the following gentlemen : Messrs. 

 Bowker, Bradley, Keogh. 



The two committees met simply for conference, neither one of them having 

 authority to take any special action further than was necessary to come to an 

 agreement as nearly as possible on the chief points under discussion. The fol- 

 lowing points were practically agreed upon by the two committees as being a 

 desirable basis for future action : 



(1) All fertilizing materials, excepting stable manures, should be subjected 

 to inspection. 



(2) Each package of fertilizing material sold should bear a legible guaranty. 



(3) It appears unnecessary to state the number of net pounds in each package. 



(4) Each package should bear the brand name, trade-mark, and the name 

 and address of the manufacturer. 



(5) The quantities of fertilizing ingredients should be expressed in percentages. 



(6) The certificates of analysis need not be in the form of an affidavit. 



(7) Sealed samples of the fertilizer need not be sent by manufacturers to the 

 inspectors. 



(8) Ten per cent of the entire lot of fertilizing material should be sampled in 

 all cases, or if less than ten packages be present all should be sampled, 



