102 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



again, the chemists came to the assistance of agriculture. Ferti- 

 lizers could be analyzed, their component parts determined, and 

 purchasers might learn how many pounds of plant food a ton of 

 artificial manure contained. Nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric 

 acid each had a commercial value per pound ; consequently the 

 chemist could easily determine in a fair manner the value of a 

 ton of fertilizer. 



In 1872, through the efforts of Dr. C. A. Goessmann, Professor 

 of Chemistry in the Massachusetts Agricultural College, the Mas- 

 sachusetts Legislature passed a law appointing a State inspector 

 of fertilizers, requiring that all fertilizer manufacturers making 

 a fertilizer having a valuation of over twelve dollars a ton should 

 print on a tag attached to the bag or barrel containing the same the 

 percentage of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid in the brand 

 sold. Samples of all fertilizers selling for over twelve dollars per 

 ton had first to be analyzed by the State chemist before they could 

 be sold in the market ; and this officer, designated " inspector," 

 was authorized to sample and analyze any or all fertilizers sold 

 in the State. This Massachusetts law was at first more or less 

 imperfect, but it was later on amended and made eminently satis- 

 factory to both the manufacturer and the consumer. Other States 

 followed the example of Massachusetts, and to-day there is not a 

 State in the Union handling fertilizers to any extent that has not 

 upon its statute-books laws patterned to some degree after the 

 Massachusetts idea, and as a result manufacturers can not with 

 safety sell the farmers shoddy fertilizers. Now and then a fraud- 

 ulent fertilizer appears, but its sale is quickly stopped by the 

 chemist's exposure. Only a short time ago (the summer of 1890) 

 two fertilizers were suddenly placed upon the Indiana market and 

 sold for $27.50 and $22.50 per ton, respectively. These were ana- 

 lyzed by the State chemist, and the former was found to have a 

 value of $5.76 and the latter of $4.44 per ton. These were out- 

 and-out swindles ; yet, had it not been for a prompt publication 

 from the State Experiment Station at Purdue University as to 

 their real character, many farmers of the State of Indiana would 

 have been unmercifully swindled. In view of the fact that 

 millions of dollars' worth of fertilizers are sold yearly in the 

 United States, one can readily understand how great is the sum 

 of money that is being yearly saved to the farmers of the country 

 through the interposition of the chemist. 



In the Eastern and more populous part of the United States, 

 which has been long under cultivation, farm manures are more 

 highly valued than in the newer regions of the country. For 

 years investigators have advised that stable manure be handled 

 economicall} 7 ". Chemists argued that, unless properly protected, 

 these manures would lose much of their valuable properties, 



