On Commercial Fertilizers. 



The duties assigned to the director of the station, to act as inspec- 

 tor of commercial fertilizers, render it necessary, to discrimmate in 

 the future, in official publications of the results of analyses of commer 

 cial fertilizers and of manurial substances in general made at the 

 station, betvjeen analyses of samples collected by a duly qualified dele- 

 gate of the Experiment Station, in conformity ivith the rules prescribed 

 by the new laws, and those analyses ivhich are made of samples sent on 

 for that purpose by outside parties. In regard to the former alone, 

 can the director assume the responsibility of a carefully prepared 

 sample, and of the identity of the article in question. 



The official report of analyses of compound fertilizers and of ail 

 such materials as are to be used for manurial pruposes, which are 

 sold in this State under a certificate of compliance witli the present 

 laws for the regul9,tion of the trade in these articles, has been 

 restricted by our state laws to a statement of chemical composition 

 and to such additional information as relates to the latter. The 

 practice of affixing to each analysis of this class of fertilizers an 

 approximate commercial valuation per ton of their principal consti- 

 tuents has, therefore to be discontinued. This change, it is expected, 

 will tend to direct the attention of the consumers of fertilizers more 

 forcibly towards a consideration of the particular composition of the 

 different brands of fertilizers offered for their jMtronage, a circum- 

 stance not unfrequevtly overlooked. 



The approximate market value of the diffei-ent brands of fertilizers, 

 obtained by the current mode of valuation, does not express their 

 respective agricultural value, i. e., their crop-producing value, for the 

 higher or lower market price of different brands of fertilizers does not 

 necessarily stand in a direct relation to their particular fitness without 

 any reference'to the particular condition of the soil to be treated, and 

 the special wants of the crops to be raised by their assistance. To 

 select judiciously from among the various brands of fertilizers offered 

 for patronage, requires in the main, two kinds of information, namely, 

 we ought to feel confident that the particular brand of fertilizer in 

 question actually contains the guaranteed quantities and qualities of 

 essential articles of plant food at a reasonable cost ; and that it con- 

 tains them in such form and such proportions as will best meet 



