24 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



is of wider interest and of greater value. It has been our policy, 

 therefore, and must continue to be our policy, to confine work 

 of this kind to relatively narrow limits. Should we comply 

 with all requests for work of this character, it is probable that 

 the time of all the chemists at present employed would be very 

 largely occupied in this work. 



The most marked increase in demands for private analytical 

 work is for soil analyses. There appears to be a widespread mis- 

 conception as to the probable value to the individual of a chemi- 

 cal analysis of his soils. This subject was rather fully discussed 

 in my last annual report ; but it seems wise once more to repeat 

 that the results of such analysis do not constitute a satisfactory 

 basis for determining either the crop adaptation or the manurial 

 requirements in the great majority of cases. No accurate count 

 has been made, but it is believed that the number of requests for 

 such analyses made during the past year has been at least 300. 

 To have made this number of complete analyses would have re- 

 quired the continuous services of two chemists for a year ; while 

 to have determined simply the leading fertilizer elements must 

 have required the full time of one chemist. 



The leading soil types found in the State have already been 

 analyzed repeatedly in most cases. Fertilizer requirements ap- 

 pear to be determined in the majority of instances more largely 

 by the crop than by peculiarities in the chemical composition of 

 the soil. It is particularly pointed out, therefore, that corre- 

 spondents need only to state the type of soil, the character of the 

 subsoil, the recent manurial treatment and the crop in order to 

 give us a basis for suggestions in relation to the selection of fer- 

 tilizers. Samples of soil, if sent, will not usually be analyzed, 

 unless the type of soil or the conditions which have affected it ap- 

 pear to be of unusual character. 



Control Work. 



The amount of work connected with the execution of the fer- 

 tilizer and feed laws increases from year to year. During the 

 past year 1,042 samples of fertilizers have been examined in ac- 

 cordance with the requirements of the fertilizer law, and 946 

 samples of cattle feeds have been analyzed. Conditions as affect- 



