156 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The above-stated regulations are now in force, and a 

 compliance with them is imperative on all manufacturers, 

 importers, agents or sellers of any brand of commercial 

 fertilizer or of any material used for manurial purposes, the 

 retail selling price of which is ten dollars or more per ton. 



It will be noticed that the new provisions for the control 

 of the trade in fertilizers in Massachusetts apply not only, 

 as heretofore, to a certain class of more or less compound, 

 distinct brands of commercial fertilizers, but to all materials, 

 single or compound, used for manurial purposes, without 

 regard to source, when offered for sale at ten dollars or 

 more per ton. 



The official report of analyses and of all materials used 

 for manurial purposes, which are sold in this State under a 

 certificate of compliance with the present laws for the regu- 

 lation of the trade in these articles, has been restricted to a 

 statement of chemical composition, and to such additional 

 information as relates to the former. This change, it is 

 expected, will tend to direct the attention of the consumer 

 of fertilizers more towards the composition of the dififerent 

 brands of fertilizers offered for sale. 



The practice of affixing to each analysis of this class of 

 fertilizers an approximate commercial valuation per ton of 

 their principal constituents has, therefore, been discon- 

 tinued. Those who are not yet familiar with the current 

 market value of fertilizing constituents may benefit by a 

 short discussion of that subject at the close of this chapter. 



The approximate market value of different brands of 

 fertilizers, obtained by the current mode of valuation, does 

 not express their respective agricultural value, i.e., their 

 crop-producing value. The higher or lower market price of 

 different brands of fertilizer does not necessarily stand in a 

 direct relation to their particular fitness, without any refer- 

 ence to the particular condition of the soil to be treated, and 

 the special wants of the crop to be raised by their assistance. 

 To select judiciously from among the various brands of fer- 

 tilizers offered for patronage requires in the main two kinds 

 of information ; namely, we ought to feel confident that the 

 particular brand of fertilizer in question contains the guaran- 

 teed quantities and qualities of essential articles of plant 



