FERTILIZER INSPECTION. 



Chas. D. Woods, Director. 



J. M. BartlETT, Chemist in charge of Fertilizer Analysis. 



The law regulating the sale of commercial fertilizers in this 

 State calls for two bulletins each year. The first of these 

 contains the analyses of the samples received from the manu- 

 facturer guaranteed to represent, within reasonable limits, the 

 goods to be placed upon the market later. The second bulletin 

 contains the analyses of the samples collected in the open 

 market by a representative of the Station. 



The analyses of the manufacturers' samples for this year 

 were published in March. A number of samples were received 

 so late that the analyses could not be included in the bulletin 

 then issued. The results of these analyses will be sent on 

 application. 



In the following tables are given the analyses of the samples 

 of commercial fertilizers collected in the open market in the 

 spring of 1904 by the Station representative. As far as 

 possible two samples of each brand were taken, an effort being 

 made to get the duplicate from a distinct lot of the same brand 

 in a different part of the State. If the first sample of a brand 

 analyzed fell below the guarantee, the duplicate of that sample, 

 if one were at hand, was also analyzed. Consequently the 

 analyses of about fifty duplicate samples appear in 'the table. 

 In some instances the second analysis agrees quite closely with 

 the first, but frequently it is quite different, indicating that the 

 goods are subject to considerable variation. 



An inspection of these figures shows that a large number of 

 the brands do not come quite up to the guarantee. This is 

 especially true of some companies and while in most instances 

 the deficiency is slight, yet the differences are greater than 



[Continued on page 112.] 



