The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-12-18
FINER FERTILIZERS.
THIS OFFICIAL REPORT FROM THE
BOARD OF CONTROL.

BOARD OF CONTROL.
Fewer Samples Found Deficient This Year
Than in Any Year Since The Establish
ment of the Station.
Below is given the annual report of
Secretary J. p. Smith of the State
board Of fertilizer control, contained
in the eighth annual report of the
South Carolina experimental station,
which shows very fully the improve
ments made in the grades of fertilizers
furnished during the past year, and
shows the income derived by the
State from the fertilizer tax.
Owing to the great depression in the
fertilizer trade the past year the ship
ping season did not open as early as
usual, consequently our inspectors
we're not started to work till about
Feb. /, and therefore had only about
two months in which to work, How
ever, they made a thorough canvass
of the State and visited most of the
shipping points several times during
the season. Three hundred and forty
samples of fertilizers, representing 206
brands of goods, were collected. AL
of these, excpet the duplicate samples,
were analyzed and reported in bule-
tin No. 20 Of the South Carolina ex-
perimental station, 10000 copies of
which were distributed throughout
the State. Comparatively few cases
of irregularities were discovered. The
greatest difficulty we have to contend
with in carrying out the law of the
State is the collection of the privilege
tax on cotton seed meal. This con-
tiuues to give us trouble. Under the
law, as construed by this department,
we tax the meal when it is sold as a
fertilizer, and we regard it all as fer
tilizer unless it is branded as stock
food, but in many cases it is bought by
farmers and dealers in carload lots,
frequently from mills in other States,
without stating, and perhaps not
knowing for what purpose it is to be
used, and is shipped and distributed
free of the tax, when doubtless large
portion of it is used as fertilizer. As
the law now stands, persons who are
disposed to disregard it can easily do
so and have a loophole of escape
from its penalties. In view of the
difficulty of enforcing the present law,
and since cotton seed meal has come
into such general use as a commercial
fertilizer, I would recommend that
the Legislature be asked to place it on
the same footing as other commercial
fertilizers and make it liable to the
privilege tax in all cases. The State
of Georgia has had such a law in or-
Grafton for several years, and I feel
confident that it would be to the inter-
est of the farmers to have the law so
amended and that the manufacturers
themselves would not object to it. I
think it but just to state in this con-
nection that I believe most mills in
the State try to comply with the law
as it is. and some of them even nav
the tax on all meal they sell now rath.
er than run the risk of violating the
State laws.
1t is gratifying to report that feve,
samples have been found below the
manufacturers guarantees than in
any year since the organization ofthis
department. Under the act O, ,se4
which allows limit of 8 per cent
below commercial values, only two
brands of goods were found deficient
FARMERS SAMPLES.
4. greater number of farmers sam.
pies have been received this year than
last, and all of those collected accord. j.
ing to the prescribed rules of the de-
partment have been analzyed and re-
ported to the persons sending them.
Instructions for collecting and for
warding these samples are always fur
nished on application to the fertilizer
department and it is important that
farmers comply strictly with these
rules, as they have been adopted sole.
ly for their benefit.
The following. table shows the work
of the department this season. also for
comparison the corresponding figures
of 1894 are given:
Privilege tax collected, 1895. $50
or. 90; 1894, s43, 1906. Amount Of
fertilizers sold in the State, (tons) 1895.
120,311; 1894, 1895. Number OF
samples collected by inspectors 1895
$40; 1894, 500. Number of samples
anal yzed, 1895, 206; 1894, 234. MINI
Der Of samples below guarantee 1895
%; 1894, A Per cent. of samples be.
low guarantee, 1895, II; 1894, is.
Under the present law, which re-
quires that the commercial value based
upon the actual analysis shall not fall
3 per cent. below the commercial
value based upon guarantees, only
two brands were found deficient.
/ The following statement shows the
total expense of the department for
the pastyear:
Salaries of chemists and secre-
tary.. .,..........,.....S2 1874 81
Chemical supplies and fuel. 1926
Postage, stationary, etc. 6S.72
Freight and expenses. 52.51
Printing tax tags. 10000
Services Of veterinary surgeon 34.7O
Salaries and railroad fare of
inspectors. ................ 74O.S4
Total. al................. ,37s.4O
| Confederate Terarans parada,