158 Fertilizers 



even the best materials may vary sufficiently to cause a 

 difference in actual cost of the constituents, even though 

 the price per ton remains unchanged. In this method, 

 the products are usually accompanied by a guarantee, 

 the purpose of which is to indicate the minimum amount 

 of the constituents contained in the material. 



The necessity of a guarantee. 



In the purchase of mixtures, consumers should demand 

 that they be accompanied by a guarantee, because they 

 are unable to determine the kind and proportion of the 

 different materials entering into the mixture, either by 

 its appearance, weight or smell. In mixing, too, an 

 opportunity is afforded for disguising poor forms of the 

 constituents, particularly nitrogen. That is, in a mixture 

 of nitrogenous materials, potash salts and superphosphates, 

 it would be a difficult matter to determine, by mere phys- 

 ical inspection, the proportion of the nitrogen which had 

 been supplied in the form of horn meal and of blood, and 

 the statement of the manufacturer on this point would 

 be valuable in proportion to his reliability. The fact that 

 in mixtures it is impossible for the consumer to distinguish 

 or determine the proportions, amounts or kinds of the 

 constituents is so fully recognized that it has resulted in 

 the enactment of laws in most states, which require that 

 manufacturers or dealers in fertilizers shall state the actual 

 amounts of the different constituents contained in their 

 products, as well as the sources from which they were 

 derived, and which fix a penalty for any failure to comply 

 with the law in this respect. A chemical control is in 

 these cases provided for, and it has been of great service 

 both to the good manufacturers, because it tends to reduce 

 the number of low-grade brands which would naturally 



