THE FERTILIZER INSPECTION IN 1898 



This year, as in the past, the New Hampshire College Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station has cooperated with the State 

 Board of Agriculture in an inspection of the commercial fertil- 

 izers sold in the state. 



In accordance with the public statutes, the collection of sam- 

 ples of the different fertilizers has been in charge of the Secre- 

 tary of the Board of Agriculture, Hon. N. J. Bachelder, who 

 has been assisted by Mr. James A. Foord ; while the chemical 

 analyses have been performed under the direction of the 

 chemist of the Experiment Station, Prof. Fred W. Morse, who 

 has had for assistants, Messrs. Chas. D. Howard, Aithur 

 Given, and Harry E. Barnard. 



The work of the inspectors in this state cannot be finished 

 before the farmers buy their season's stock of fertilizers, because 

 the manufacturers do not, in many cases, place their goods in 

 the hands of the local agents until April i, or later. Conse- 

 quently the analyses of the past year must serve as a guide to 

 the composition of the fertilizers on the market for the coming 

 year. The publication of this bulletin has therefore been 

 delayed, with the idea that it will receive more attention now 

 than if issued last fall, and thus be more effective in decreasing 

 the use of inferior brands. 



Under the present fertilizer law, a manufacturer pays a license 

 fee, which permits the sale of as many different brands of fer- 

 tilizers as he may choose to place on the market. The multi- 

 plication of brands by the different makers has required more 

 analyses than could be paid for out of the license fees, there- 

 fore this year one-third of the samples collected were not 

 analyzed. The brands included in this lot had been examined 

 for two successive years, 1S96 and 1S97, and found to be equal 

 to their respective guarantees in all respects. 



The list is published in order that all brands found by the 



