4 CONTROL SERIES No. 109 



The Massachusetts Fertilizer Law is essentially a true labelling law. In the 

 words of Dr. Goessmann, it endeavors to persuade the manufacturers of fertilizers 

 to "state what they sell and to sell what they state." With minor exceptions, 

 there are no restrictions imposed on the kind or grade of fertilizer which may be 

 sold provided it is correctly labelled. For all practical purposes there is no pre- 

 scribed minimum percentage of total plant food which a fertilizer must contain 

 before it can be registered for sale. However, "the director or his authorized 

 deputy may refuse to issue a certificate for any fertilizer or brand of fertilizer 

 which does not contain at least one-half of one per cent of nitrogen, or one-half of 

 one per cent of potash soluble in distilled water, or one per cent of phosphoric 

 acid, or five per cent of calcium oxide, or five per cent of magnesium oxide, or 

 which contains its potash, phosphoric acid, calcium or magnesium oxides in forms 

 substantially insoluble by the methods of analysis for commercial fertilizers and 

 agricultural lime products prescribed by the Association of Official Agricultural 

 Chemists of North America, or which does not possess substantial properties as 

 a fertilizer." 



It will be noted that registrations of fertilizers are required annually on Janu- 

 ary 1. The law specifically states that each fertilizer shall be registered before it 

 is sold. Some manufacturers have consistently followed the practice of waiting 

 until inspectors have sampled their products before registering. There has been, 

 also, a tendency on the part of some manufacturers to greatly delay transmitting 

 the required reports of the total tonnage of their fertilizer sales for each six months 

 period. This has necessitated a great deal of correspondence which could be easily 

 eliminated with a little more cooperation. 



Inquiries are received from time to time regarding the necessity of registering 

 liquid fertilizers, chemical salts, etc., which are usually marketed in small packages 

 intended for use on potted flower plants, lawns, flower gardens, and tank growing 

 of plants. The Massachusetts Fertilizer Law includes such products under its 

 regulations and they should be registered before being sold in this state. 



In order to protect themselves, dealers should ascertain whether such products 

 are registered and labelled as required by the Massachusetts Fertilizer Law before 

 accepting them for resale. If for any reason the manufacturer refuses to comply 

 with the registration provision of the law, the dealer, as the seller, will be held 

 responsible for the amount of the registration fee as well as for the fulfillment of 

 the other provisions of the law not observed by the manufacturer. 



Manufacturers and Brands 



Registrations have been perfected in Massachusetts during 1941 by 98 firms, 

 covering 498 brands of mixed fertilizer and unmixed fertilizing materials. 



The following brands were not found on display by the sampling agent at any 

 point in the state and therefore do not appear in the tables of analyses. 



