TV MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



of success then. There is nothing mechanical about the work 

 of the investigator. He rqust wait for the place and the hour 

 when he can with certainty declare a new truth or point out a 

 new application of an old truth. 



The Fertilizer Control. 



As has already been pointed out, the inspection of fertilizers is 

 at the present time made possible through the use of money 

 appropriated by the United States Government. In no other 

 state is this the case. It is certainly unfortunate that in Maine 

 we are following a policy which appears to be condemned every 

 where else, for in all other states where a fertilizer control system 

 exists, it is supported by funds obtained either from licenses on 

 the sale of fertilizers, or from direct appropriations by the state. 

 At a meeting of the Association of Land Grant Colleges and 

 Experiment Stations held at Champaign, 111., the peculiar relation 

 which the Maine Experiment Station sustains in this particular 

 was sharply pointed out. It is certainly very undesirable that 

 our Station should attain notoriety of this kind. In view of the 

 fact that the course pursued at this Station is in this respect not 

 in accord with usage elsewhere, and because there is so pressing 

 a demand for the use of more funds in the actual work of experi- 

 ment and investigation, I feel compelled to recommend that some 

 means be devised for carrying on the fertilizer inspection without 

 drawing upon the Government Appropriation. 



It may be proper to notice briefly in this connection a complaint 

 which is made yearly, and which may now be regarded as chronic, 

 in regard to the publication of the Station analyses of fertilizers. 

 It is claimed by those who find fault, that the results of the 

 inspection should be made known before the time when farmers 

 find it necessary to purchase fertilizers in the spring. To say that 

 this can not be done is a statement of fact, and though the 

 briefest, it may not be a convincing argument with which to meet 

 the complaint. If, however, the farmers of the state could 

 understand the matter as fully as do the officers of the Station, 

 no argument would be required to assure them of the impossibility 

 of going into the markets and collecting two hundred or more 

 samples of fertilizers, representing seventy-five brands, analyzing 

 these samples, making up the report and publishing it before the 

 month of May opens. The fact that the older fertilizer control 

 stations, such as those in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New 



