73 



The prices paid for these special manures are as a rule far beyond 

 their agricultural value. The chemist by ordinary analysis is not 

 able to help the farmer to discriminate between the valuable 

 nitrogen in bones and the almost valueless nitrogen of leather. 

 The manufacturer very often sells the manures through merchants 

 who know nothing of the constitution of the manure and less of the 

 requirements of the farmer, and the merchant's traveller will almost 

 go as far in his praises of these manures as to declare that one can 

 grow potatoes on a bare boulder of granite with only a dose of their 

 extra-special potato manure. 



The farmer knows, or ought to know, more about h's land and 

 its requirements than either the manufacturer or the merchant, then 

 why should he not use that knowledge and buy the different 

 substances he requires, and mix them as required. He can have 

 them analysed to see what they contain and that they are what they 

 were sold to him for. He may, if he is unwise, take it for granted 

 that their substances are as they are stated, but if he does the crop 

 will not. Should the analysis prove them to be different to wha it 

 was intended to purchase, the farmer should either refuse to take 

 them, or insist upon reduction in the price, which no right-minded 

 merchant will ever object to. I do not intend to refer to any of these 

 special preparations in detail, but will gke the requirements of the 

 different crops as foun 1 by practical experience. The farmer can 

 then, from his own knowledge of what his land requires, use his 

 own discretion as to the class of manures he purchases. 



In order to show that the purchaser of artificial manures is 

 fully protected against fraud on the part of the vendor, the Fe 

 Stuffs and Fertilizers Act of Western Australia, with its regulations. 

 is here introduced. A perusal of this will show that it is entirely 

 the farmer's own fault if he is victimised. 



AN ACT TO REGULATE THE SALE OF AGRICULTURAL FKKTII.ISKKS AND FKI 



STUFFS, 



ntcd A>, nth .SY/> tcnihci . 



BF it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice 

 and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of 

 We-tern Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of 

 the same, as follows : 



1. (1.) Every person who sells for use ;is a fertiliser of the soil any article 

 manufactured or found in the said Colony, n imported from abroad, shall .-iiMi and 

 give to the purchaser an invoi. e .-taring the name of the ai tide ami whether it i> an 

 artificially compounded article or not, and what is at Ira-i the percentage of the 

 nitrogen, soluble and insoluble phosphates, and potash, it any, contained in the 

 article ; and this invoice shall have effect as a warranty by the seller of the statements 

 contained therein. 



( 2 ) For the purposes of this section an article shall be deemed to be manu- 

 factured it it has been subjected m any artificial process. 



