98 Forest Club Annual 



a. Never accept weathered coal but select a fresh face of coal at 

 the point where the sample is to be obtained and clean it of ail 

 powder stains and other impurities. 



b. Spread a piece of waterproof cloth upon the floor so as to catch 

 the particles of coal as they are cut and to keep out impurities 

 and excessive moisture where the floor is wet. Such a cloth 

 should be about 1 ^ by 2 yards in size and spread so as to catch 

 all the material cut down. 



c. Cut a channel perpendicularly across the face of the coal bed 

 from roof to floor, with the exceptions noted in paragraph (d), 

 and of such size as to yield at least 5 pounds of coal per foot of 

 thickness of coal bed, that is, 5 pounds for a, bed 1 foot thick, 10 

 pounds for a bed 2 feet thick, 20 pounds for a bed 4 feet thick, 

 etc. 



d. Include in the sample all material encountered in the cut, except 

 partings or binders more than three-eighths of an inch in thick- 

 ness and lenses or concretions of sulphur or other impurities 

 greater than two inches in maximum diameter and one-half inch 

 in thickness. Care should be exercised to keep the groove of 

 uniform size throughout without regard to the material en- 

 countered. 



e. If the sample is wet take it out of the mine and dry it until all 

 sensible moisture has been driven off. 



f. If the coal is not visibly moist, pulverize and quarter it down 

 inside the mine to avoid changes in moisture, which take place 

 rapidly when fine coal is exposed to different atmospheric con- 

 ditions. Pulverize the coal until it will pass through a sieve 

 with one-half inch mesh, and mix it thoroughly so that the 

 larger particles are evenly distributed throughout the mass. 

 After mixing divide the sample into quarters and reject opposite 

 quarters. Repeat the operation of mixing and quartering until 

 a sample of desired size is obtained. When the work has been 

 properly done, a quart sample is sufficient for chemical analysis. 

 Seal the sample in either a glass jar or a screw top can, with 

 adhesive tape over the joint. 



g. The analysis of such a sample will show the grade of coal that 

 may be obtained by careful mining and picking. Generally the 

 sulphur and ash in the commercial output of the mine will ex- 

 ceed the amount shown by the analysis, but the commercial com- 

 position can be approximated by multiplying the analytical re- 

 sults by the empirical coefficients 1.06 for sulphur and 1.29 for 

 ash. 



h. Accompany each sample by a complete description stating 

 where and how the sample was obtained and what it represents. 



i. In publishing analyses give full descriptions, as noted above, to- 

 gether with the name of the collector, date of collection, name 

 of analyst, and treatment of sample after it was collected. 



IX. SALTING 



Adopt some method to protect the samples of ore or coal, 

 which you have collected for analysis, against the attempts 



