272 Annual Report for 1914 of the (^onsidting Chemist. 



has a right to expect this, and not the flour. Moreover, there 

 is reason to believe that a good deal of damaged flour, or flour 

 that is not fit for baking use, is thus disposed of under the 

 name of " offals." 



I have conducted some trials with different samples sent to 

 me, and have compared them by carefully washing out the 

 starch and estimating the amount of husk left. In doing this 

 I have found very great differences to occur. In a good 

 sample of "sharps," for example, I found, V)y proceeding in 

 this way, 45 per cent, of husk remaining, while in another 

 sample there was 25 per cent. only. 



"In "Toppings" I found in a moderate sample, itself 

 somewhat " floury " in appearance, 30 per cent, of husk, while 

 others contained only -03 per cent, or none at all. In 

 " Middlings " similarly I have found 8 per cent, only and 

 none at all. The last named was a sample sold under the 

 desci'iption " Italian Middlings." It is clear that, hard though 

 it may be exactly to say where to draw the line and what figure 

 to give as a minimum for the amount of husk a milling offal 

 should contain, it will be necessary to impose some condition 

 and put a stop to the practice that has been described. 



In my last year's report I dealt at considerable length with 

 the different kinds of potash salts which were brought to this 

 country from the Stassfurt Mines of North Germany, and were 

 used here in agriculture. In particular, I endeavoured to 

 remove some misapprehensions which had been formed as to 

 the nature and composition of kainit. Writing now, twelve 

 months later, agriculturists find themselves in a position 

 where the entire supply of these useful fertilisers has been 

 cut off owing to the outbreak of war. There still exist, to 

 a certain extent, stocks in this country, but these are not 

 large, and, what there are, will be mainly required by the 

 manufacturers of artificial manures, so that the farmer will 

 practically find himself unable to get any of them. This must 

 necessarily be severely felt, especially by farmers on light lands 

 where frequently potash is a necessity. Attention is there- 

 fore being turned to other possible sources of potash supply. 

 Suggestions have l)een made that the burning of twigs, hedge- 

 trimmings, &c., will supply a certain amount of potash, also 

 that sea-weed might be collected and burnt, thus reviving 

 the old practice of kelp-burning. But these methods, though 

 useful enough where they can Ije economically practised, are 

 not likely to be of general application, and would, at best, go 

 but little way to supply the potash required by the country. 



So far as is known, there do not exist elsewhere than in 

 North Germany any considerable natural deposits of potash 

 salts, though recently there has been talk of some being found 



