1809.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 33. 117 



A few of the more important of the above-stated ma- 

 lt-rials, as wood ashes, etc., are discussed more at length in 

 subsequenl pages. 



2. Notes on Wood Ashes. 



Wood ashes for manurial purposes arc in our State subject 

 to official inspection, and dealers in that commodity have to 

 secure a license to sell in our State before they can legally 

 advertise their articles tor sale. This circumstance makes it 

 obligatory on the dealers to state the amount of potash and 

 of phosphoric acid they guarantee in these materials, and to 

 fasten that statement upon the package or car, etc., which 

 contains them. 



Some dealers in wood ashes have adopted of late the 

 practice of stating merely the sum of both, instead of 

 specifying the amount of each of them present. As phos- 

 phoric acid and potassium oxide contained in wood ashes are 

 considered, in our section of the country, pound for pound 

 of an equal commercial value, from 4.5 to 5 cents, no par- 

 ticular objection can be raised against a joint statement of 

 both, as far as the mere money value of the samples is 

 concerned ; yet. as this mode of stating the guaranteed com- 

 position is apt to lead to misconception and abuse, it ought 

 to be discouraged and discontinued. 



A- the dealer is only obliged to guarantee the amount of 

 ] iot ash and of phosphoric acid present in a given quantity 

 of wood ashes, no serious objection can be raised on the 

 part of the buyer on account of moisture, etc., as long as 

 the article contains the specified amount of both potash and 

 phosphoric acid. Wood ashes ought to be bought and sold 

 by weight, and not by measure, for both moisture and the 

 general character of foreign matters are apt to seriously 

 afifeel the weight of a given measure. 



During the past year (1898) 40.1 per cent, of the ma- 

 terials senl on for analysis consisted of wood-ash samples ; 

 during the preceding year (1897) they amounted to 40 per 

 cent. 



The general character of the wood ashes sold during the 

 stated year- may be judged from the following classified 

 statement of our results ; — 



