4 X. H. EXPERIMENT STATION (Bulletin 311 



compliance with the law. The law governing these matters 

 follows : 



"Every lot or parcel of commercial fertilizer or fertilizer 

 material sold or offered or exposed for sale within this state 

 shall be accompanied by a plainly printed statement, clearly 

 and truly certifying the number of net pounds of fertilizer 

 in the package, the name, brand or trademark under which 

 the fertilizer is sold, the name and address of the manufac- 

 turer or importer, the location of the factory, and a chemical 

 analysis stating the minimum percentage of nitrogen, of 

 available phosphoric acid and of water soluble potash ex- 

 pressed in whole numbers. 



"No fertilizer or fertilizer material containing the three 

 essential fertilizing elements, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash may be sold or offered for sale if the total minimum 

 plant food nutrients contained therein is less than fourteen 

 per cent by weight, provided however that natural animal 

 and bird manures shall be excepted from the provisions of 

 this section." 



The chief purpose of the official inspection required by 

 the fertilizer law is to protect the consumer against the 

 misbranded products which would doubtless soon appear 

 upon the market if the sale of fertilizer was not under state 

 regulation. The value of a fertilizer depends mainly upon 

 its content of available plant food, particularly nitrogen 

 phosphoric acid and potash. The presence of these con- 

 stituents can only be determined by a chemical analysis. To 

 insure that they are being furnished by the manufacturer in 

 the guaranteed amounts, it is necessary that each brand of 

 fertilizer offered for sale be officially inspected and analyzed 

 one or more times each year. When failure to meet the 

 guarantee is proven by chemical analysis, the prosecution 

 or seizure provisions of the law may he invoiced. All of the 

 samples reported in this bulletin were officially taken by an 

 inspector appointed by the Commissioner <>f Agriculture. 

 The ehemical analyses were made by the official methods of 

 the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. 



