864 A nnnal Report for 1911 of the Consulting Chemist. 



have been grown, and the results will in due course be pub- 

 lished. I append a few analyses of sugar-beet and similar 

 root crops. 



During the year two circulars referring to adulteration and 

 high prices have been sent out privately to Members of the 

 Society. These comprised the following subjects : — 



(1) "Cod-Liver Oil Condition Mixture," containing rice- 



husk. 



(2) " Rapid Compound Fish Manure " — very dear. 



(3) American hominy food — below guarantee. 



(4) Bombay cotton cake — sold as " Egyptian." 



(5) " Oat Feed," consisting largely of oat-husks. 



(6) Thirds — adulterated with rice-husk. 



(7) Barley meal — adulterated with rice-husk. 



In the first of these cases, several prosecutions for the sale 

 of the like material ensued under the Fertilisers and Feeding 

 Stuffs Act, and in all of these a penalty was enforced. In No. 

 6 several pigs had been killed, and compensation was paid to 

 the extent of '601. 



In the course of the year the Board of Agriculture issued a 

 circular drawing attention to fertilisers which were sold at 

 very high prices. This is a work which the R.A.S.E. has for a 

 long time been doing, frequently drawing the attention of its 

 Members to cases of fertilisers which have been sold at much 

 above their real values. The Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs 

 Act, though it secures that fertilisers shall be sold up to the 

 guarantee given with them, deals in no way with their value. 

 A fertiliser may come up to the guarantee given with it, but 

 this by no means implies that it is worth the money, and the 

 only real security for purchasers is to make sure of the quality 

 by having an analysis made. 



The Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act has, on the whole, 

 worked better than in former years, though the extent to 

 which it is made use of is far from satisfactory. Still, as has 

 been remarked above, certain forms of adulteration, notably 

 that of th6 presence of rice-husk, have l:)een dealt with. 



An attempt at amending this Act has been made by the 

 introduction of the " Sales for Agricultural Purposes " Bill, 

 this including in its provisions the examination of seeds, 

 sheep-dips, &c. Though I consider that, in certain points, 

 improvements have been suggested by the Bill, the latter 

 proposes to introduce many complications which will, I think, 

 make it unworkable. 



I proceed to give the details of the principal features 

 brought to my notice during the year as deiived from the 

 analysis of samples submitted to me by Members of the 

 Society. 



