32 PKOCEEDINGS AT GEXEEAL MEETINGS. 



valuation, I find that the Caithness Association has paid £.1 per ton for a manure called 

 vitriolated bones whose value is £5 per ton, Strathearn has paid £7, 8s. for a manure 

 whose value is £5, 2s., and the Lanarkshire Association has actually paid £8, 10s. for 

 & manure whose value reckoned at the highest is only £5, 6s. per ton. 



In this last manure the practice is adoj^ted of guaranteeing the nitrogenous part, not 

 as ammonia, but as sulphate of ammonia, because the number is about four times as 

 large as the number expressing the percentage of ammonia. This is a practice fre- 

 quently adopted in guaranteeing low-class and spurious manures, and one can scarcely 

 avoid the inference that it is done with the view of making the manure appear to be 

 richer in ammonia than it really is, and unfortunately farmers are not all so well 

 .acquainted with chemical nomenclature as to know the difference between ammonia 

 and sulphate of ammonia. If they were to adopt the method of dividing the amount 

 •of sulphate of ammonia by four, and calling that the amount of ammonia, this objec- 

 tionable practice would soon cease. 



Among the other samples of dissolved bones which have been analysed, there are a 

 few for which prices have been paid that are much in excess of their value, notably one 

 .supplied to the Carse of Gowrie Association at the very high price of £9, 5s. per ton, 

 its proper value being £7, 2s. 



From what has been said it will be seen that in buying dissolved bones farmers can- 

 not be sure that they get them, and that they are to a considerable extent being sup- 

 l)lied with various mixtures under the name of dissolved bones, and that they are 

 paying for these, in many cases, prices far in excess of their value. Dissolved bones 

 are no doubt an excellent manure, but farmers are apt to have too exalted an opinion 

 of them, and to pay for a poor manure a higher price than it is worth, simply because 

 it is called dissolved bones. So far as my experience goes, I think that if a farmer 

 gets a manure with 20 per cent, or upwards of soluble phosphate and 1\ per cent, or 

 upwards of anuuonia, he need not trouble himself to inquire whether it was derived 

 from bones or not, and the less bone he is able to see in it the better. Visible frag- 

 ments of bone in such a manure may seem a satisfactory thing to a farmer who has a 

 respect for bones, but they are really an indication that the bones have been imperfectly 

 dissolved, or perhaps added to some other dissolved phosphate of different origin. 



The dissolved phosphate in bone is no better than any other dissolved phosphate, and 

 the ammonia is rather slower than most forms of ammonia. A little magnesia and a 

 very little potash are contained in bone, but the amount in dissolved bones is so slight 

 as scarcely to affect the value of that manure. 



The next manure is superphosphate, of which the average quality is very high, \az., 

 about 30 per cent, soluble phosphate ; the average price is £4, 15s. per ton, and most 

 of the samples agi'ee well with their guarantees. There are three or four exceptions 

 which are much overcharged. One sample from the Buchan Association falls far below 

 its guarantee, and is priced at £4, 5s., while its value is only £2, 13s., being an over- 

 charge £1, 12s. per ton. Another from Easter Ross is overcharged to the extent of 

 £1, 15s. per ton. But these are exceptional cases, and upon the whole the superphos- 

 phates are high-class manures well up to their guarantees, and with values closely 

 agreeing with their prices. 



The Peruvian guanos contain mostly about 30 per cent, phosphates, of which about 

 11 to 12 per cent, is soluble, and are guaranteed to contain 10 per cent, of ammonia, 

 but few come within 1 per cent, of the guarantee. Some fall far below it. One from 

 the Kiucavdine Association is nearly 3 per cent, low in ammonia, and is £2 above its 

 value. Another from the Lanarkshire Association contains not much more than half 

 the guaranteed amount of ammonia, and is priced at £3, 8s. 6d. per ton over its value, 

 I suppose, however, that in such cases where the manures fall short of the guarantee a 

 corresponding reduction of price will be accepted. 



Among the guanos are five which have had suli^huric acid added to them, and they 

 therefore show a high percentage of soluble phosphate. The}" have all been sold at 

 prices much over tlieir value. The average overcharge is upwards of 50s. per ton, 

 taking the most liberal view of the matter. One sample from the Strathearn Associa- 

 tion is priced at £11, 8s. , while its value is certainly not more than six guineas including 

 a good profit, that is to say five guineas lost upon a six guinea manure. To invest 

 money in that manner means simply rapid ruin, but the most lamentable thing about 

 it is, that this extra price is paid for the spoiling of good Peruvian guano by dosing it 

 with sulphuric acid, 



I next come to the thirty-eight special manures. Fourteen of these are called turnip 

 manures, and ten are called potato manures. These are manures containing soluble 

 and insoluble phosphates and ammonia with or without potash, and may be valued in 

 the same way as dissolved bones, which they more or less resemble, Adoj^ting that 

 method of valuation, I find that on an average about £1 per ton is paid for turnip 

 manure over that which is paid for an equal value of dissolved bones. A few are sold 

 at a cheaper rate, but the majority are sold at prices ranging from 15s. to £2 per ton 

 over their equivalent in dissolved bones. 



