The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1891-02-06
Harm nnfra.
Bogus Fertilizers.

Interest and investment in fertilizers
for horticultural uses are just begin
ming in California, and il is exceed
ingly important that they should start
Alright. Already certain things have
transpired which indicate that the use
and trade In fertilizers are not open
ing In this way. There has been com
plaint from many who have purchased
small lots for trial that no satisfactory
results have been realized. They have
not been able To see that the money
they expended in this direction did
them any good. Others who have
made similar purchases have noticed
notable improvement in their trees
and fruit and have purchased more
and more freely. OF course this differ
enee in experience may be due to
several different conditions and may
not necessarily indicate that the
material applied was worthless, but in
some cases this is no. doubt the true
explanation of the disappointment.
Fertilizers which are really worth
less may sometimes be sold through
ignorance, not alone of the purchaser
but OF the seller. We grant this does
not often occur, and i'm most cases
worthless stuff is sold with the full
knowledge OF the manufacturer that
he is not giving value for the money
he receives. There was an enterprise
begun in this state some years ago
which ingeniously proposed to sell
farmers ground limestone at so much
ton, and pamphlet was prepared
setting forth the many values of lime
in the production of crops. This was
so simple delusion that we attributed
it To the ignorance of the protector OF
the enterprise, rather than his inten-
tion to perpetrate a swindle. The
whole matter was dropped when some
one secured statement from Prof.
Hilgard that ground limestone was of
no appreciable value as fertilizer.
Another case has more recently come
TO light. Some farmer in southern
California sent to the university a
sample of n carload of bone fertilizer
which had been sent him from some
dealer in San Francisco. The stuff
was simply disintegrated shells taken
probably from inland deposit. This
was apparent to the eye, for the ship
per had taken no pains to disguise its
character. An analysis showed that
it was almost totally deficient in avail
able fertilizing matters and that it's
actual worth was considerably less
than the cost of freighting it, not to
speak of the dealers charge for it. It
has been known for years that material
sold as bonemeal and bone fertilizer
by some parties in this city has been
| largely adulterated with such shell
material and thus debased, but this is
case in which the adulteration was
sold pure, so to speak. No doubt Prof
Hilgard's reply to the party who sent
him the sample will prevent the sale
of more of that stuff as bone manure.
The fact of the matter is, that in fer
tilizers as in many other things the
time has come when we must learn
wisdom from the older states. These
states have laws governing the sale of
fertilizers. They provide that any
farmer may take sample of what is
sold him and send it for analysis to
the experiment station or other recog-
nized authority and secure a statement
of its value. They also provide that
dealers in fertilizers must furnish an
alyses of the material they offer and
provide penalties for selling material
not up to these analyses. There are
also other provisions which comprise
what is known in all the older states
as fertilizer control" This is what
we must arrive at in this state, and the
first step is the enactment of fertil-
izer law and provision for its execu-
ton. When this is done we shall hear
less OF such outrageous things as are
now coming to light in the fertilizer
business in this state.--Rural Press.
J. r. Metcalf, member of the house
of representative from Stevens county
says he was paid $500 by Harry A.
Clark of Spokane Falls to vote for W.
H CalkinS for limited States sfAn afr,r