140 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1913. 



defect at present in the manufacture and sale of commercial 

 fertilizers. 



As will be noted from the tables, the analyses of the different 

 brands compare very well with the guaranties. Practically every 

 company shipping goods into the State is giving on the average 

 more plant food that the guaranties call for on the whole. 

 Occasional samples fall below the guaranty in one and some- 

 times in two constituents. But there is no evidence to indicate 

 that any company is doing other than trying to live up to the 

 requirements of the law. 



The New Mineral Fertilizer Company have again registered 

 the New Mineral Fertilizer which carries practically no plant 

 food as contemplated by the law. They made a serious technical 

 violation of the law by shipping to an Aroostook point about 

 600 packages, only one of which was labeled to show what the 

 goods were. After investigation it was found that the person 

 who had the goods in his possession at Houlton was under con- 

 tract to store and deliver the goods but had nothing to do with 

 their sale. As this person was apparently innocent of any 

 wrong attempt, as the company had nothing to gain by this mis- 

 branding, and on the assurance of the President of the New 

 ^Mineral Fertilizer Company as late as August 2, 1913, that the 

 Company had "not received $1.00 for any of our material 

 shipped into Aroostook County," and that it was the desire of 

 the Company to comply in every way with the requirements of 

 the law, the case was dropped. Field experiments by the Sta- 

 tion with this so-called fertilizer are reported in Bulletin 209, 

 published in January last. 



