1899.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 117 



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

 terials, as wood ashes, etc., are discussed more at length in 

 subsequent pages. 



2. Notes on Wood Ashes. 



Wood ashes for manurial purposes are in our State subject 

 to official inspection, and dealers in that connnodity have to 

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

 advertise their articles for 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 e(iual commercial value, from 4.5 to 5 cents, no par- 

 ticular o])jection can ])c raised against a joint statement of 

 l)()tli, 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. 



As the dealer is only obliged to guarantee the amount of 

 potash and of phosplioric acid [)rcsent 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 

 tlie article contains the specified amount of l)otli potash and 

 phosphoric acid. Woml ashes ought to be bought and sold 

 by weight, and not by measure, for l)oth moisture and the 

 general character of foreign matters are a})t to seriously 

 affect the weight of a given measure. 



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

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

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

 cent. 



The general character of the wood ashes sold during the 

 stated years may l)e judged from the following classified 

 statement of our results : — 



