REPORT OF THE CONSULTING CHEMIST FOR 1917. 521 
REPORT OF THE CONSULTING CHEMIST FOR 1917. 
By Dr. J. A. Voelcker, M.A., F.I.C., F.L.S., &c. 
The applications made in 191 7 to the Consulting Chemist were more 
numerous than in 1916, twenty-eight samples being sent for analysis 
in place of thirteen in the previous year. These analyses comprised : 
Meat meal ....... 1 
Poultry manure ...... 1 
Potash materials ...... 4 
Concentrated manure ..... 1 
Hair waste ....... 1 
Destructor refuse ...... 1 
Sewage sludge ...... 1 
Compressed oats mixture 1 
Waters ....... 2 
Soils . . . . . . . -15 
28 
1. Meat Meal. — This was sold as containing 30 per cent, of phos- 
phates and 8*5 per cent, of ammonia, the price charged being, in 
November 1917, £16 a ton. Analysis showed it to have : 
Per cent. 
Phosphates ....... 2499 
Ammonia 9-32 
There was, thus, a deficiency of 5 per cent, of phosphates and 
an excess of o-8o per cent, in ammonia, these about balancing one 
another in value ; but the price was an exceedingly high one, and 
should not have been nearly so much. 
2. Poultry Manure. — The sample sent of this gave : 
Per cent. 
Moisture ....... 56*80 
Organic matter and salts of ammonia . . 18*11 
♦Phosphoric acid . . . . .1-50 
Lime ....... 9*00 
Magnesia, alkalies, Sec. .... 6*94 
Sand 7-65 
IOOOO 
Nitrogen . . . . . . .1*02 
Equal to ammonia ..... 1-24 
♦Equal to phosphate of lime . . . 3-28 
3. Potash Materials. — The search for materials containing potash 
has been, in the absence of the German potash salts, very active, and 
the need of them has been particularly felt in the horticultural world. 
Consequently, a number of materials have been examined in the hope 
of their containing potash. Three such were the following : 
