tions of plant food, and in the examination of seeds and such investigations as were permitted by the statutes.

When it was thought an arrangement was surely perfected, a failure followed in consequence of a failure on the part of the college to execute the work required. The recent effort was not an earnest one, and did not carry with it any warm support by agricultural institutions or by the intelligent farmers of the state. It was postponed on the plea that congress had under consideration a proposition to create a series of stations, one in each state, to be under a united control.

This board has been unanimously in favor of a station, and has made all the efforts within its power to commend it to the people.

There has been reason at times to hope that some citizen of ample means might make a donation adequate to the wants of such an institution, or that a bequest might be made to the college for that purpose. The founder or liberal benefactor would naturally be honored by the application of his name to such a station, which would be a more lasting tribute to his liberality than a monument of brass or marble. We can for the present anticipate no such endowment.

INVESTIGATIONS.

We have less original work in this department than usual, though there has been more inquiry as to the composition of feeds and fertilizers than ever before. Many farmers are beginning to realize that applied science is required on the soil and in the stables, in order to the greatest success. The best husbandmen have recognized the fact by their practice. They have studied the reports of experimental work in our previous volumes and elsewhere, and, though the principles there presented are not to be rigidly adopted, they furnish the outline of a system that is year by year receiving a wider endorsement. To those who are beginning the study of the chemical composition of the various foods, as well as the soils and the manures to be applied, we commend anew the many pages we have already given, which furnish extended experiments and explain the proper combinations for success.

The familiar brands of commercial fertilizers have been licensed as heretofore, and with them a few not as well known. Bowker's, Bradley's, the Bay State, Quinnipiac, the Soluble Pacific, and Darling's, continue to be acceptable to our farmers. More recently have come in the Buffalo, Clark's Cove, Williams, Clark & Co.'s, and others proving valuable when properly applied. Near the close of the year covered by this report, "The United States & Canada Coöperative Fertilizer Company" sent into the state several lots of a new article, at a somewhat reduced price, and made preparations to put it on the market without license. The clerk of the company was a New Hampshire man, of the legal profession, who commands and merits the confidence of the public. He was notified of the movements of the company. This brought an application from

the selling agent for a license. Not being able at once to secure an analysis of the article, the authorities issued a license after some delay, with the understanding that if the goods did not carry fertilizing elements corresponding with the price, there should be a reduction, or the article could not be sold.

An anslysis was in due time made at the College of Agriculture, with this result as given by Prof. Blanpied :

This, reckoning on the basis given by experimental stations, would give a commercial value of $21.74 per ton. On the highest scale of prices the value could not be above $23. Notice was publicly given of the result, and the company specially notified. The sale was limited. Some lots had been ordered and received, and were returned. Unless there is an improvement in the character of the goods, it will not be advisable for farmers to give more than $25 per ton. We understand the wholesale price was $26, and the retail, $36.

Other samples of chemicals and fertilizers have been examined by different parties, and a few of them given, as follows:

SULPHATE OF AMMONIA.

Sold by the Quinnipiac Co., New London, Conn., cost $3.50 per hundred pounds. It contained 15.5 per cent. nitrogen. The price was in accordance with the analysis, or very near its true value.

From Bowker's.
Nitrogen,

SULPHATE OF AMMONIA,

20 per cent.

MURIATE OF POTASH,- -NITRATE OF SODA,SULPHATE OF POTASH,

From Bradley's, and also from Bowker's, were examined, and found to contain elements in accordance with the price in the market.

Kainite, Kiersite, &c., have been examined, but are not much

We find other samples analyzed at $35 or $36.

33.00

There should be a reduction in the price of these two brands.

Prof. Johnson, of the Connecticut Experiment Station, in his report for the current year, gives many important facts and explanations connected with the constitution of special fertilizers, similar to those we here incorporate into our report.

DEFINITIONS.

Nitrogen is commercially the most valuable fertilizing element. Organic nitrogen is the nitrogen of animal and vegetable matters. Some forms of organic nitrogen, as those of blood and meat, are highly active as fertilizers; others, as found in leather and peat, are comparatively slow in their effect on vege