250 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



I. Communication on Commercial Fertilizers. 



1. General introduction. » 



2. State laws for the regulation of the trade in commercial 



fertilizers. 



3. List of licensed manufacturers and dealers for May 1, 1890, 



to May 1, 1891. 



4. Analyses of licensed fertilizers. 



5. Analyses of commercial fertilizers and manurial substances 



sent on for examination. 



6. Miscellaneous analyses. 



1. General Introduction. 



The sale of commercial manurial substances, compound and 

 simple, has been quite active in our State. Forty-eight manu- 

 facturers and dealers have applied and received a license for 

 the sale of their various brands in our State. Twenty-six of 

 them are residents of other States. 



One hundred and ninety-two samples of licensed articles 

 have been collected in all parts of the State by a duly author- 

 ized agent of the station. One hundred and fifty-eight of 

 them have been carefully analyzed at the chemical laboratory 

 of the station with the following results : six samples con- 

 tained all three essential constituents above the highest 

 guarantee ; eighteen samples contained two of the essential 

 constituents above the highest guarantee ; forty-two samples 

 contained one of the essential elements above the highest 

 guarantee ; sixty-one samples contained all three essential 

 elements at the lowest guarantee ; fifty samples contained 

 two elements at the lowest guarantee ; thirteen samples 

 contained one element at the lowest guarantee ; no samples 

 contained all three essential elements below the stated lowest 

 guarantee ; nine samples contained two elements below the 

 stated lowest guarantee ; forty-two samples contained one 

 element below the lowest stated guarantee. 



The deficiency in one or two essential constituents was in 

 the majority of instances compensated for by an excess in 

 the others. The variations in the market price of the various 

 prominent fertilizer constituents have been during the year 

 within the usual limits. The most serious fluctuations were 



