CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



protection from the unscrupulous competition 

 that dishonest men employed. The memory of 

 some of the frauds perpetrated lingers, and causes 

 a questioning to-day that is unnecessary. All 

 fertilizer-control laws afford a good degree of legal 

 protection to the buyer, although in most states 

 they do not demand a clearness and fullness in 

 statements of analyses that would be helpful to 

 many, and they fail to require that sources of 

 plant-food be given. Some fertilizers are sold for 

 more than they are worth, and some are bought 

 for soils and crops that need other kinds of plant- 

 food, but this is due to lack of knowledge on the 

 part of the buyer that he can acquire. The law 

 does its part in the work of protection better than 

 many buyers do their part. It has driven fraudu- 

 lent brands off the market, compelled carefulness 

 in factory-mixing, and given to the intelligent 

 buyer a knowledge of the kinds and amounts of 

 plant-food in the bag or ton. The sampling is 

 done by disinterested men, and the analyses are 

 made by competent chemists. There need be 

 little distrust of the analysis as printed on the 

 bag, unless a failure of the manufacturer to keep 

 his goods up to the standard has been made public 

 in the state's fertilizer bulletin. 



[190] 



