Los Angeles herald., 1891-02-16
BOGUS BONEMEAL.'
PROFESSOR HILaARD RUNS DOWN
a FRAUDULENT TERTIL1zER.
Ground Sea Shells Which Cost sixty-Fi
Cents Ton Sold for Twenty Eight
Doliars-The Professors Views.

Farmers seem to be the particular
prey of swindlers, and orange growers
of Southern California are especially the
object of the unscrupulous. They have
suffered from being sold poor nursery
stock, worthless scale bug remedies, and
from cheating fruit dealers. and now
they are being worked" by dealers in
bogus fertilizers.
Through the enterprise OF c. C. Waite,
of Ontario, this last scheme has received
a severe check. Mr.. Waite some time
ago was offered what was represented to
be ''pure bonemeal'' for $2S ton. Mr..
Waite thought best to have the stuff in.
vestigated bit before purchasing. ae
he had heard OF such things not being
what they were represented. So he
sent a sample up to Prof. E. w. Hill.
gard, Of the state university, who also
has charge OF the different AGRICULTURAL
experimental stations in. this state. The
professor analyzed the meal and found
1T consisted solely of ground sea shells,
Its cost was not to exceed 65 cents a
ton, which would leave the dealer a
snug little profit of $27. 80 per ton.
The stuff Prof. Hilgard pronounced
absolutely worthless as q fertilizer in
this state, and that it was intended as a
fraud is made plain by the TACT that it
was offered for sale under the name OF
"bonemeal."
The professor, apropos OF the affair.
says: .1he soil of California, as whole.
is deficient in phosphates. In some Sec
tions nitrogen is lacking, and in other
localities other substances are wanting,
Everywhere there is an abundance OF
lime and potash, in fact in some places
superabundance of the latter. This
means, then, that-our farmers and fruit
growers do not want a fertilizer that
contains either lime or potash. but do
want either phosphates or nitrogen
alone or combined.
'sSome time ago l made analyses of
fertilizers for manufacturers from sam
pies OF their products sent me. / in
variably found the samples to be all the
firm claimed for them, but no sooner
had returned my analysis of the sam
pie than the firm wouldat once begin
the manufacture and sale of fertilizer
no more like the sample sent me than
ground sea shells are like bonemeal,
and would use my analysis as a guar
anty as to the worth OF the stuff. /
found / had to quit analyzing fertilizers.
"We have two good fertilizing materi~
ais furnishing phosphates manufactured
here, namely, bonemeal or ground bones,
and phosphates manufactured from the
charcoal of the sugar refneries. Bone-
meal contains some nitrogen. but the
charcoal from the refineries does not.
For months I have been analyzing
soils, irrigating waters and the fruits
from all over the state to ascertain what
each section of land needs to build it up,
and keep it producing with the abund-
ance it does today. / have issued one
soil map which the farmers need only
to look at to see what his land needs to
strengthen it, and hope to soon issue
second One lar more exhaustive and
complete in every respect than the first.
| have found that in certain localities
the irrigating waters furnish all the fer
tilizer needed. For instance, around
Riverside the irrigating waters are ex-
ceedingly rich in potash, and as oranges
need potash more than anything else,
the result is fine fruit and plenty of it.
On the contrary, around Fresno the
irrigating waters show barely a trace of
fertilizing material"
Professor Hilgard advocates the en-
actment of a state law requiring all
packages of fertilizers to bear state
ment of their analysis, and the certifi-
cate OF state inspector.