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The Count]-)' Gcntlanaiis Magazine 



mmierous cases where men liad been imposed upon, 

 Imt he would adduce a single instance by way of 

 illustration. A person wanted a respectable dealer in 

 tr^anoto supply him with the best Peruvian for £12, 

 los. He stated that he could not do so, that the 

 article could not be bought in the market under £\l, 

 and if he was not satisfied he could try somebody 

 else. The farmer purchased a lower priced article, 

 but he was very much dissatisfied witli the results, and 

 on a sample of his purchase being afterwards analyzed, 

 it was found not to be genuine, and was not worth 

 more than /'S. In fact, he had been imposed upon 

 by a spurious article ; he lost his money in the first 

 instance by paying a high price for a poor article, and 

 ill the second by the inferiority of his crop. Dis- 

 couragements such as these, and want of knowledge as 

 to the causes from whence the failures proceeded, 

 naturally excited a prejudice against artificial 

 manures, and in the end there was a very 

 .serious check on the progress of agriculture. 

 \\\ a poor county like Durham, where the 

 land was not naturally very productive, artificial 

 manures were particularly requisite, and it was of the 

 more importance therefore that they should have 

 confidence in what they purchased. Many people, 

 unfortunately, from want of due thought, bought from 

 ]iarties of no standing whatever ; and then, getting 

 <lisappointed, they became less and less enterprizing, 

 and poor farms got poorer still. It was of immense 

 benefit to know what were the right ingredients to 

 apply to land. The dissemination of knowledge on 

 the principles of chemistry as applicable to agriculture 

 could perhaps be the most successfully effected by 

 lectures, but there could be no question that analyses 

 such as he suggested would be of great practical 

 utility. Perhaps they could not go so far at present 

 as to undertake the analysis of soils, but he thought 

 they might, for a very moderate outlay, undertake to 

 employ an analytical chemist to test the fertilizing pro- 

 ]ierties of artificial manures. In the present day, in 

 farming, as in all other businesses, competition was 

 very strong, and farmers could ill afford to waste their 

 money in the purchase of stuff which was of no value. 

 .Should the Chamber, after the subject had been fully 

 considered, appoint a chemist to conduct analyses such 

 as he referred to, no doubt it would be of great ser^'ice 

 to farmers and to agriculture in general. 



Mr T. Wearmouth said he hardly thought the 

 Chamber should be at the cost of protecting those who 

 were so foolish as to expend their money in these low- 

 priced manures. If they went to a respectable agent 

 they would get an analysis, and a guarantee that the 

 manure supplied should be like the sample. He wa? 

 surprised that men should be so foolish as to purchase 

 low-priced blood manures, and the mere sweepings 

 and dirt which were sold for artificial manures now-a- 

 days. If they went to a good man for guano, and to 

 another for bones, they would get a good article with- 

 out an analysis. Cockle-shells and oyster-shells were 

 very largely mixed with some of these manures, and 



he had for years thrown away £20 a-year in purchas- 

 ing such rid)bish for genuine manure. He had given 

 up the oyster-shells now, for he found that guano and 

 half-inch bones were far more profitable. A lot of the 

 artificial manure now sold was dirty rubbish, against 

 which common sense should guard them. They 

 wanted no protection against such stuff as that. 



Mr Holmes : It appears you required it when you 

 bought oyster-shells. 



Mr Clii.LART said it was against the practices of 

 riien who had not established reputations as manure- 

 dealers that it was so desirable to guard the poor man. 

 By plausible pretences they imposed upon poor farmers 

 who had no means of testing the value of the articles 

 in which they dealt. The object of an association like 

 the North Durham Chamber of Agriculture should be 

 to encourage dealers who sold the best manures, and 

 those who sold the worst they should endeavour to 

 wijje out. If farmers had the means of testing the 

 qualities of manures by the aid of an experienced 

 chemist, dishonest dealers would be deterred from 

 practices so dishonourable as those referred to. 



The Chairman said the subject introduced by 

 Mr Gillart was one of very considerable importance. 

 The great difficulty was to get a certain class of 

 farmers to understand the difference between low- 

 priced and cheap articles. They were apt to think 

 more about saving, as they thought, a few shillings, 

 than they were about buying a first rate article, the 

 purity of which was known. They don't think that 

 the value of a manure consists in the ingredients of it, 

 and they will thus buy a low-priced rather than a 

 superior article. The best way, of course, was to 

 have a fair samplefrom the bulk, and to have it analyzed 

 before it was tried. A great many parties, however, 

 did not think of purchasing their manure before they 

 wanted to use it, and there was not then time to 

 analyze it. The only protection against fraud in such 

 cases was to deal with large and honourable firms, 

 whose interest it was to supply the best article they 

 possibly could. Their profits depended upon shewing 

 that their manure was better than their neighbours'. 

 It would be a good plan to get farmers to retain 

 samples of their manures, so that actions could be 

 brought against parties who sold manures which were 

 comparatively worthless. In Scotland penalties had 

 been recovered from parties who had sold useless com- 

 pounds for manures. The man lost his whole crop of 

 turnips, and he recovered substantial damages. 



Mr Wearmouth said the price of Peruvian guano 

 was so well known, that anybody purchasing an article 

 for less than that sum must know it was not pure. 



Mr John Furneis said they all knew the price of 

 good Peruvian guano, but there were other artificial 

 manures manufactured which in some measure came 

 into competition with it, and encouragement of those 

 who made good manures of this description might 

 bring down the price of guano. Their object should 

 be not only to put down those \\ho sold an inferior 

 article, but to encourage those who produced a good one. 



