UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Agricultural ExperimentStation 
 
 College of agriculture e.j. wickson, director 
 
 BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 
 
 CIRCULAR No. 36 
 
 (March, 1908.) 
 
 ANALYSES OF FER TILIZERS FOR CONSUMERS. 
 
 Under the provisions of Section 4 of the State Fertilizer Act, any consumer of 
 commercial fertilizers residing in California may have analyses made in return for 
 a nominal fee for each analysis. This fee of $2 per sample examined does not 
 begin to pay the actual cost, but is exacted to partially pay the running expenses 
 of the Fertilizer Control and to insure that correspondents shall not send in un- 
 necessary samples. To properly take advantage of this privilege, persons interested 
 should be careful to take their samples in a way that shall make them represen- 
 tative of the entire lot of goods. If samples are not so taken the analysis will 
 make it appear that the goods are either of greater or less value than they really 
 are. In one case doing an injustice to the consumer, in the other to the manu- 
 facturer. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR SAMPLING. 
 
 The sample should be drawn from not less than ten packages, if the lot is five 
 tons or less; if the lot is over five tons, the sample should be drawn from not less 
 than twenty packages. The larger the number of packages sampled, the more 
 representative the sample will be. The sample drawn as specified above should be 
 thoroughly mixed, great care being exercised to prevent the separation of coarse 
 and fine materials. Not less than one quart should be taken from this sample, to 
 be sent to the Station for analysis. Whenever possible the sampling should be 
 done in the presence of the agent, who should sign, as a witness, the certificate 
 given below. If the sample is not drawn in the presence of the agent, it should 
 be drawn in the presence of some other person, who should sign the certificate as 
 a witness. 
 
 REPORTS OF ANALYSES. 
 
 Upon receipt of analysis fee, properly filled out certificate, and sample, the 
 analysis will be made as soon as circumstances permit, usually in the course of a 
 week. A preliminary report will then be sent to the consumer with a request to 
 furnish certain information as to source, and guaranty accompanying the fer- 
 tilizer. When this request is complied with a final report will be sent to all inter- 
 ested parties, showing the commercial value of the goods as compared with the 
 minimum guaranty of the manufacturer. If consumers desire to waive the priv- 
 ilege of withholding the guaranty till the preliminary report is made, this latter 
 will be omitted and a final report rendered immediately on completion of the 
 analysis. In such cases the consumer should forward the fertilizer tag, names and 
 addresses of manufacturer and dealer at the time of sending the certificate. 
 
 CERTIFICATE FOR CONSUMER'S ANALYSIS. 
 On the following leaf is the certificate that consumers are required to fill out. 
 It may be detached and used as such. Checks or money orders should be made in 
 favor of the Regents of the University of California. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of California, Davis Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/analysesoffertil36burd 
 
*?1 
 
 CERTIFICATE FOB CONSUMER'S ANALYSIS. 
 
 E. J. Wickson, Director, 
 
 Berkeley, Calif. 
 
 This is to certify that I am not a dealer in, or agent for the sale of 
 any fertilizer, and that the fertilizer, a sample of which I have sent you 
 
 for analysis, was purchased by me , 190 , 
 
 for my own use and not for sale. 
 
 I further certify that the amount purchased was tons and 
 
 that the sample was drawn from packages and was thoroughly 
 
 mixed. 
 
 Upon receipt of the analysis from you, I agree to furnish you with 
 a tag or label taken from one of the packages sampled, the name and 
 address of the manufacturer, and of the dealer of whom the fertilizer 
 was purchased. I enclose two dollars analysis fee. 
 
 (Signature) 
 
 (P.O. Address) 
 
 (Date) 
 
 (Signature of Witness) 
 
 FEETILIZER BULLETINS. 
 
 Semi-annual reports of the inspection of fertilizers throughout the State are 
 issued in the form of bulletins by this Department. These include all analyses of 
 samples collected in the open market and in the hands of purchasers by our in- 
 spectors, as well as those of the consumers' samples which have been taken in 
 accordance with our requirements. Study of these reports will greatly aid the 
 prospective purchaser of fertilizers in determining the relative reliability of manu- 
 facturers and the character of the goods they supply. Bulletins may be had on 
 application. 
 
 John S. Burd, 
 Chemist in Charge, Fertilizer Control.