Annual Repoi't of the Consulting Chemist for 1886. 301 
In addition to the samples analysed for individual members, 
the Society has seen its way to extend the use of the Laboratory, 
when so desired, to local Agricultural Societies, conducting 
experiments under the sanction, and with the co-operation of 
the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Manures, &c., 
used in such experiments have accordingly been examined in the 
Laboratory, in addition to others connected with the experi- 
ments at Woburn. 
A prominent feature of the past year has been the cheapening 
of almost all kinds of feeding-stuffs. In the different kinds of 
cakes in general use the diminution of price has been very 
marked. Not only in feeding materials, but also in manures, 
there has been a great fall, and while the change has been to 
the advantage of the user, it has affected the trade in anything 
but a satisfactory way, manures being in many cases, I am fully 
aware, sold below the cost of production. The competition 
among seed-crushers and manure-manufacturers has thus very 
considerably lessened the cost of materials used on the farm, but 
this has not been obtained without considerable drawbacks as 
regards the genuineness and the general reliability of the articles 
sold. As evidence of this it has been my duty, in my capacity 
of Consulting Chemist, to bring under the notice of the 
Chemical Committee a larger number of cases than before, in 
which impure or inferior articles have been purchased as 
genuine, or at prices far above their intrinsic worth. For 
details of these cases, reference should be made to the Quarterly 
Reports of the Committee published in this volume.* 
I pass now to the more detailed consideration of the general 
subjects mentioned above. 
Linseed- Cakes. — As in former years, by far the largest 
number of cakes analysed have been linseed-cakes, and of the 
300 examined by me during the twelve months, I am able to 
state that over half of them were of average good quality. There 
have been, of course, many of the thin, hard-pressed American 
cakes, distinguished as a rule by their low percentage of oil and 
highly nitrogenous composition ; but of the English-made cakes 
the quality has been as a rule good, and there has been a 
greater tendency to purchase a rich and pure cake, even if the 
price has been of necessity somewhat higher. In my last 
Annual Report I gave a number of cases of high quality cakes, 
and it is noticeable that of late there have been one or two firms 
which have gone so far as to guarantee a certain percentage 
of oil in linseed-cakes. Of " Russian," " Polish," or " St. 
Petersburg" cakes, as they are called, there has been a smaller 
* Vide p. 319, it seq. 
