involving some difficulty.

FERTILIZER CONTROL

One of the first of the "control" measures to be enacted, and the one
which has been most universally adopted by the several states, is the
law requiring the manufacturer and dealer in commercial fertilizers to
guarantee the percentage of the so-called essential fertilizing
elements--nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium--contained in each bag of
fertilizer offered for sale. Subsequent control laws have been modeled
more or less closely after this law. Hence a description of the
operation and execution of it will serve for all.

The execution of this law is usually under the immediate supervision
of the state secretary of agriculture, while the necessary chemical
analyses are made by the state experiment station. In some states the
enforcement of the law is in charge of the state experiment station,
while in others the state department of agriculture has its own
laboratories or employs a private chemist. It is, however, becoming a
more and more settled policy to place all police regulations in charge
of the state department of agriculture, while at the same time the
chemical analyses and other scientific and technological inquiries are
made at the state experiment station.

In order to facilitate the taking of samples and in order to raise
funds for the execution of the law, the manufacturer is required to
take out a license and to make a statement of the brands of fertilizers
which he will place upon the market in the given state during the given
season.

During the spring and fall season agents traverse the state and sample
the bags of fertilizers as found on sale by local merchants. The
samples are sent by number under seal to the designated chemist, while
at the same time the agent transmits to the state officer in charge of
the enforcement of the law the necessary information concerning these
samples. Upon the receipt of the analysis made by the chemist, who has
had no knowledge of the origin of the sample, the state officer
compares them with the guarantee of the manufacturer, and if he finds
it necessary enters legal complaint. While these laws have been in
force for many years in some states and in many states for some years,
prosecution has seldom been found necessary. The honest manufacturer is
protected from dishonest competition, and the dishonest manufacturer,
if there be such, cannot afford the publicity which noncompliance with
th