132 MALXE STATE COLLEGE. 



the law, and the brands mentioned below can be sold legally in the 

 state to the extent of thirty tons or more during the year 1S95. 



(The bulletin gave the manufacturer's guarantees and the analysis 

 of manufacturer's samples, but as these figures are of only passing 

 value they are omitted here. W. H. J.) 



BULLETIN Xo. 19. 

 A DISCUSSION OF CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ARTICLES. 



(1) Fertilizers. 



A large sum of money is annually expended by Maine farmers 

 for commercial fertilizers and commercial cattle foods. The trade 

 in these articles offers, therefore, wide opportunities for the practice 

 of fraud, and for the sale of various nostrums and mixtures at 

 prices several times larger than the value to the purchaser of the 

 goods delivered. Through credulity, lack of accurate knowledge 

 and hasty judgments Maine farmers have suffered their fair share 

 financially at the hands of plausible "agents." In too many 

 instances the goods are first bought for cash or on credit, invari- 

 ably at an unusually large price, and then after the act is past 

 recalling, information is sought as to the character and value of 

 the "fertilizer" or "food" purchased. If accurate information 

 were first obtained in these cases there would be less of these tran- 

 sactions where value is not received for the money paid. 



There are two claims which generally characterize the repre- 

 sentations of the companies and agents selling these questionable 

 goods: 



(1) The process of manufacture is a secret one, having been 

 "discovered" by some one who is generally unknown either to 

 science or practice. 



(2) The "fertilizer" or "food" either contains ingredients of which 

 the whole world, outside of a favored few, is ignorant, or else certain 

 ingredients are so wonderfully compounded as to produce marvelous 

 results. 



In all instances that have come under the writer's notice such 

 materials have ing-redients of some actual value for feeding plants 

 and animals. Are the claims of extraordinary value well founded? 



Let us examine some of the cases that have been investigated. 



Fertilizers. 



There is a case in hand just bow which well illustrates the sale 

 (attempted at least) of a fertilizer in accordance with claims that 

 cannot be justified by existing knowledge, and at a price greatly 

 out of prorjortion to the real value of the article. 



