OFFICE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, COLUMBIA, S. C., November 1, 1883. To Governor HUGH S. THOMPSON, Chairman Board of Agriculture. Since the third Report was submitted, your Excellency has succeeded ex-Governor Hagood, as the Chief Executive of the State, and have become ex officio Chairman of the Board of Agriculture. At a meeting of the Board, held April 11th, 1883, Mr. Philip E. Chazal, E. M., of Charleston, was elected State Chemist, in place of Prof. C. U. Shepard, Jr., who had previously executed all analyses desired by the Board. No other changes of officers have occurred in any branch of the Department, and in all other respects it remains as constituted at date of last Report. We have collected from manufacturers, dealers and agents of commercial fertilizers in this State, for the year ending November 1st, 1883, $25,092.30. This sum represents the entire amount paid for the privilege of selling these goods in South Carolina, and the amount derived from this tax is used exclusively for the use and benefit of the Department. The whole amount collected was paid into the State Treasury, as will appear from financial statements at close of this Report and also from reports made to the Comptroller General. During the season of 1882-83 the following regulations governed the sales of fertilizers in South Carolina: 1. All persons or companies engaged in the manufacture or sale of commercial manures are required to pay to the Commissioner of Agricul ture twenty-five cents per ton on every ton of such commercial fertilizer sold or offered for sale in South Carolina. 2. Every bag, barrel or other package of such fertilizers or commercial manures shall have thereon a plainly printed label or stamp, which shall truly set forth the name, location and trade mark of the manufacturer, also the chemical composition of the contents of such package and the real percentage of any of the following ingredients asserted to be present, to wit: Soluble and precipitated phosphoric acid, soluble potassa, ammonia or its equivalent in nitrogen, together with the date of its analysis, and that the privilege tax has been paid. 3. All chemical compounds sold or offered for sale, including burnt marl, kainit, ground bone, fish scrap, Peruvian guanos, are subject to the payment of the privilege tax, 4. Only the privilege tax tags issued by this Department are recognized as evidence of the payment of the tax. 5. Applications for tags should be made to the Commissioner of Agriculture, accompanied by the amount of tax and the name of the manufacturer of the fertilizer, where manufactured, the brand of the fertilizer for which they are to be used and the guaranteed composition of the same, together with the number of bags, barrels or packages to the ton. (If the fertilizer for which tags are desired has been imported, the name and location of the importer must be given.) Manufacturers and dealers are prohibited from using the tax tags on any brand of fertilizer unless this rule, as well as all others regulating sales, has been strictly complied with. 6. No tags will be furnished companies or individuals where the guaranteed percentage of either potash, ammonia or phosphoric acid is. given with a greater margin than twenty-five per cent. over the lowest percentage given. (If the minimum is stated at two per cent. the maximum must not exceed two and a half per cent.) And the analysis branded on the package must correspond with the guaranteed analysis filed in the Commissioner's office. 7. All railroad companies and other common carriers are prohibited from delivering any commercial fertilizer that does not bear the prescribed tag, showing that the tax has been paid. This does not apply to the delivery by railroads to their connections, but to its delivery at points of final destination to guano agents or other consignees. 8. The samples of fertilizers to be analyzed by the Chemist of this Department will be drawn by an agent appointed by the Department from any lot sold or offered for sale, and at any point in the State. 9. The tags furnished by the Department are simply evidence that the tax has been paid, and manufacturers and dealers are prohibited from printing the brand of fertilizer, analysis or any other matter on them. 10. Any merchant, trader, manufacturer, agent or person who shall sell or offer for sale, or deliver after sale, or receive, any commercial fertilizer without having the labels and stamps prescribed by law shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars for each separate bag, barrel or other package sold or offered for sale, to be sued for before any Trial Justice. 11. All persons are warned against purchasing or receiving fertilizers or commercial mauures that do not bear the privilege tax tag of this Department and other labels and stamps provided by law. 12. Manufacturers and dealers are requested to send the guaranteed analysis, &c., to be filed in this office, on a separate sheet of paper from their letters, or applications for tags, and certified to by the manufacturer. 13. Applicants for tags are requested to use the following form, which should be sent with letter enclosing amount of tax: "We hereby make application for (number of tags) privilege tax tags, to be used on (brand of fertilizer,) which we propose to sell in South Carolina the present season. This fertilizer is manufactured or imported by (name of manufacturer or importer,) at (location of factory or office of importer,) and is put up in (number of) packages to the ton, and is guaranteed to contain: "Ammonia, (minimum per cent.) to (maximum per cent.) "Available phosphoric acid, (minimum per cent.) to (maximum per cent.) "Total phosphoric acid, (minimum per cent.) to (maximum per cent.) "Potash, (minimum per cent.) to (maximum per cent.) "We certify that the above analysis is an exact transcript from the packages containing this fertilizer, and that the name of the manufacturer, or importer, and the location of factory, or office, and the date of the analysis of this fertilizer is stamped on each and every package of the same. Samples of this fertilizer can be obtained by the Department of Agriculture at (point of shipment.) Our agent at that place is (name) of agent.)" 14. Privilege tax tags cannot be used upon any other brand of fertilizer than that for which they were purchased. Where parties are handling a number of brands, the guaranteed analysis, &c., of all the brands can be filed at the same time, and tags purchased at the time or subsequently during the season can be used on either of those brands, but it is a violation of the Regulations to use these tags on any brand until Rule 5 has been fully complied with. Some changes may be made in the regulations governing the sales of fertilizers during the present season. If so, notice of the same will be given through the monthly bulletins of the Department and in such other manner as may be deemed necessary. Manufacturers are requested to inform the Commissioner as early as possible where samples of their goods can be obtained, in order to facilitate the analysis the present season. Very respectfully, A. P. BUTLER, Commissioner of Agriculture. The chemical examination of commercial manures offered for sale being of such vital importance to the farmers of the State, it was determined to submit every brand on the market, if possible, to this test. With this object in view, three agents were appointed for the purpose of drawing samples of fertilizers for analysis. One of these agents was assigned to the lower portion of the State, one to the middle and one to the upper, and they were instructed to procure samples of every brand offered for sale at every point visited and to report all violations of the law that they might detect. It may be well to explain here the system we have pursued for the protection of the farmers. To take a sample of any fertilizer at the place where manufactured would, evidently, not satisfy the consumer of the quality of the goods, because of the opportunity afforded manufacturers for so manipulating a sample that upon analysis would give very much higher results than would be obtained from a lot already in the hands of the purchaser or away from the factory and out of the power of the manufacturer to alter or change in any way. We therefore adopted the latter plan as one that would afford ample protection to farmers and honest manufacturers. Samples of the same goods were obtained in various sections of the State, and it was then in our power to ascertain whether the fertilizers were of the same grade at one place as another. The rule adopted, upon the suggestion of Professor Shepard, was, that if the analysis of this Department showed a commercial value equal to the commercial value of the manufacturers' minimum guarantee, then no action would be taken against the dealers in such goods; but if our analysis showed lower results than the value of the minimum amount claimed, then other analyses of the same goods (from samples drawn in parts of the State other than the section from which the first or original analysis was made) were made, so that we might know whether the deficiency in the goods was general or only in an isolated case. If subsequent analyses were satisfactory, we did not proceed legally against the manufacturer, but published all the analyses for the information of the public; but if further investigations still exhibited unsatisfactory results, we announced that the parties would be proceeded against to the fullest extent of the law. The agents sent out by the Department reported a considerable number of minor violations of the law by agents, who were selling without having the tags required to be attached to the packages, and by not having the sacks properly branded. They also reported railroad agents at several points on the different roads in the State for delivering fertilizers to consignees that did not bear the necessary labels and stamps. These reports, with written statements of the facts in each case, were referred to the Board, and the Commissioner was directed to confer with the Attorney General and be governed by his advice and his own judgment in deciding whether to institute proceedings against any of the parties or not. The Commissioner has corresponded with the railroad |