204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Every law is inoperative unless there is some power to enforce it. Whatever 

 good our present fertilizer law may have accomplished, it needs revision. Samples 

 of fertilizers for analysis are taken by the manufacturers only, and there is no pro- 

 vision for official inspection. This requires salaried officers; and to meet the ex- 

 pense of fully protecting the consumers, some of the States assess a tax of fifty cents 

 per ton on the fertilizers sold. The fees paid by manufacturers in Indiana are 

 rather more than ten cents per ton. Our present law should be amended — 



1. To provide for inspection of fertilizers sold ; 



2. To provide for the analysis of a reasonable number of samples furnished 

 by farmers ; 



3. To meet the extra expense thus incurred ; and 



4. To conform with such plan of analysis as may be generally adopted in other 

 States. 



The primary object of the fertilizer law is to protect the farmer by infoi'ming 

 him of the character and value of the goods purchased ; but with no system of 

 official inspection, the published results may be very misleading. There is no real 

 guarantee that the fertilizers sold conform in composition to the samples analyzed. 



The records for the past year affiard a means of estimating the total quantity of 

 commercial fertilizers sold in the State. It will be of interest to compare this 

 amount with the annual requirements of the farm ; we may thereby gather some 

 profitable lessons for the future. The most costly constituents removed from the 

 soil by farming are phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen. The latter may be 

 obtained indirectly from the atmosphere; but every pound of potash or phosphoric 

 acid taken from the soil leaves it permanently just so much poorer, unless an equal 

 weight of the same is returned. 



The amounts of phosphoric acid and potash that may be supplied to farmers is 

 estimated as follows: The law requires that a label from this office shall be placed 

 upon every package of commercial fertilizer offered for sale in the State. Sixty- 

 nine thousand such labels were issued during the year ending Sept. 30, 1884. The 

 sacks used hold either 100 or 200 pounds each. If, then, we assume that each label 

 is attached to a 200-pound package, ten labels would be required for each ton, and 

 the tags issued represent 6,900 tons of the various fertilizers. No larger amount 

 can be sold in conformity with the law ; while the probability is that some surplus 

 tags will remain in the hands of dealers, and less than the estimated amount of 

 fertilizers will be sold. Now, by calculating the amouiits of phosphoric acid and 

 potash in the whole quantity of each brand whose sale is authorized, we find that 

 1,051 tons of phosphoric acid and 65 tons of potash may be supplied during the 

 year in our commercial fertilizers, but the estimate is above rather than below the 

 truth. 



An estimate of the total quantity of these important constituents drawn from 

 the soil annually in the State was also computed, under my direction, by students 

 in agriculture. In each case of doubt, the figures were so chosen as to give a result 

 below the truth, rather than above it. The aggregate production of wheat, corn, 

 oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, hay, potatoes, and tobacco (exclusive of straw) was 



