218 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



that are offered to them, without cost beyond the expense of 

 taking and sending a sample. The frequent bulletins give 

 wide publicity to the results of analyses, and the result is that 

 fertilizers that are not commercially worth what they cost, 

 or nearly so, are either entirely out of the Conn, market, or 

 if they appear remain but a short time. 



The State Law respecting fertilizers has, so far as I can 

 learn, no effect beyond securing a label and "analysis" of 

 some sort attached to each package of fertilizer. The law 

 is not precise enough in its terms to be of any use otherwise, 

 and no prosecutions or complaints have ever been made under 

 it. 



The Exp. Station, therefore, with the cooperation of a 

 number of active farmers and Farmers' clubs, accomplishes 

 whatever results we have, independently of any special legis- 

 lation or inspection. Manufacturers in the State and many 

 without who sell their wares here, so far as I know, are pleased 

 with the operations of the Station; for, as they say, it prac- 

 tically excludes inferior goods from our markets, and secures 

 an impartial verdict on the merits of each article sold. The 

 Station makes no prosecution of the dealers in poor fertilizers, 

 it simply publishes the character of their goods, and public 

 opinion inflicts due punishment. 



The cost of the Station as now carried on is $5000 yearly. 

 The rooms occupied by it are furnished rent-free by the S. S. 

 School. The Station is simply a chemical laboratory and cor- 

 respondence office. It now employs three chemists and a 

 Director, has no grounds and no facilities for any but labora- 

 tory experiments. . . . Yours very truly, S. W. Johnson. 



(S. W. J. TO F. H. S.) 



New Haven, Ct, Dec. 15th, 1879. 



My dear Storer, ... I am most profoundly sorry at the 

 state of Bussey in general and ... in particular. As to 

 the questions I only know what I got or rather I know 



