New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 13 
willingness to pay for the service. The answer to these re- 
quests is that the Station does no commercial work and under 
no conditions whatever can it assume the burden of the chemi- 
cal or other expert work of the trades. 
Frequently farmers mail samples of feeds or fertilizers, asking 
for an analysis. In most cases these are samples of brands 
that are inspected by the State and it is unwise to duplicate 
work, especially when samples sent by consumers are liable, 
because of inexperience in sampling, not to represent fairly the 
goods from which they are taken. Users of feeds and fertilizers 
should utilize the official reports as a guide to the character of 
these materials. It would be impossible to make special analyses 
for each farmer in the State, but what is granted in one case 
cannot rightfully be refused in another. 
It is often possible by the mere physical inspection of a sam- 
ple of feed for us to determine what are the materials out of 
which it is made. This sort of an examination consumes little 
time and it can often be made the basis of useful advice to a 
prospective buyer. Such examinations we are glad to make. 
It should be stated, however, that when an association of 
farmers makes a contract for the purchase of a large lot of 
feed or fertilizer on the basis of a guaranteed composition, the 
Station is always willing to make free analyses to determine 
whether the goods are according to the guarantee. This we 
have done in many cases. 
Many samples of water are sent to us that we may determine 
their sanitary quality. Examinations of this kind are not un- 
dertaken by the Station as they properly belong to the State 
Board of Health, which is located at Albany. | 
Inquiries are frequently received by us as to the purity of 
samples of seeds. Such inquiries can be answered with com- 
paratively little effort and our replies often serve to warn the 
farmers of a community against injurious adulterations, such 
as dodder and trefoil in alfalfa seed. 
Requests are not infrequently received at the Station to have 
some member of the staff visit a particular farm or orchard 
or other agricultural operation in order to give expert advice 
as to the business management that should be followed. Such 
requests are made in good faith and with the best of motives © 
and are a gratifying evidence of confidence in the Station, but 
they show something of a misconception of the kind of aid the 
