4 MAINE AGRICULTURAL KXPERIMENT STATION. IQI3. 



in October, enclosing a slip taken from the Bangor Commercial, 

 showing that he had taken the first premium on pumpkins and 

 cucumbers at the Charleston Fair, grown by the use of New 

 England Mineral Fertilizer. Naturally the company were elated 

 at this testimony and sent to the writer a series of letters, in- 

 cluding the one which he had written Air. Orf, which they pro- 

 posed to publish to show the value of the New England Mineral 

 Fertilizer and the ignorance of Experiment Station people. 



On receipt of this communication the writer at once wrote 

 Mr. Orf asking for particulars as to soil, methods of treatment, 

 etc., and also asking the best way to get to his place in order 

 that the land where this marvel was produced might be seen. 

 October 21 Mr. Orf wrote that he grew the pumpkins and took 

 the prize at Charleston. These were grown "on New England 

 Mineral Fertilizer with a light coat of manure/' He also says : 

 "My potatoes I say nothing about, only ten bushels from two 

 rows 25 rods long." And again : "The company wants me as 

 an agent but I won't swindle the public." Further on he says : 

 "You will see by my letter that it is no use to come up here." 



As stated above, it is lawful so far as the fertilizer law is 

 concerned for this company to sell this material under the 

 claims that they do that it is free from nitrogen and contains a 

 trace of the two other constituents of commercial fertilizers that 

 are required b}^ law to be stated on the package. Tf the fertil- 

 izer law were as broad as the food and drug law these goods 

 would be mislabeled if accompanied by such statements as are 

 made in the literature which these people distribute. 



In 19 10 the Experiment Station had about three acres at 

 Highmoor Farm on which oats were grown without fertilizer. 

 The object of this was to test the natural uniformity of the 

 land and see how well it is suited for plot experiments. Tt is 

 planned in 1911 to use a part of this field in an experiment to 

 test the Mineral Fertilizer on potatoes and corn. Six-tenths 

 of an acre will be set aside for this purpose and laid out into 

 six plots. Two of these plots will be unfertilized, two will be 

 fertilized with Mineral Fertilizer in accordance with the direc- 

 tions for the particular crop to be obtained from the New Eng- 

 land Mineral Fertilizer and Chemical Company, one of the re- 

 maining plots will be fertilized at the rate of 1500 to 1800 

 pounds per acre with a high grade fertilizer, and the other plot 



