XII.] SALE OF FERTILISERS 349 



a basis of exact knowledge, especially as the farmer has 

 no difficulty in obtaining the analyses beforehand or in 

 checking the results on delivery. The trade in fertilisers 

 is regulated by the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act 

 of 1906, according to which " Every person who sells for 

 use as a fertiliser of the soil any article which has been 

 subjected to any artificial process in the United 

 Kingdom, or which has been imported from abroad, is 

 required to give to the purchaser an invoice stating the 

 name of the article and what are the respective per- 

 centages (if any) of nitrogen, soluble phosphates, and 

 potash contained in the article, and the invoice is to 

 have effect as a warranty by the seller that the actual 

 percentages do not differ from those stated in the 

 invoice beyond the prescribed limits of error." 



Certain limits of error are laid down for each fertiliser 

 in the regulations accompanying the Act ; for instance, 

 one grade of superphosphate is guaranteed to contain 

 26 per cent, of phosphates made soluble ; the warranty 

 implied is that the fertiliser contains 27 to 25 per cent, 

 and that the purchaser can sustain a claim against a 

 vendor if the percentage has fallen below 25 per cent. 

 Vendors of manures are no longer allowed to give 

 nominal guarantees such as i per cent, of nitrogen ; 

 any statements of composition, made either verbally or 

 in a circular about the fertiliser, have all the effect of a 

 warranty. 



Every county council and county borough is bound 

 by the Act to appoint an agricultural analyst, who for 

 a fee (generally small) must analyse and report on 

 samples sent to him, provided these samples have been 

 taken within ten days of the receipt of the fertiliser or 

 of the invoice. The purchaser must supply a copy of 

 the invoice to the analyst, but may omit therefrom the 

 name of the vendor. The samples for analysis must, of 



