Annual Report of the Consulting Chemist for 188G. 309 
able results. In Germany alone some 180,000 tons per annum 
of the slag are produced. The price of this material is at 
present about 255. or 30s. a ton. It contains from IG to 19 
per cent, of phosphoric acid, besides lime in large quantity, 
and also compounds of iron, which latter it is maintained do 
not have (as might be supposed) a prejudicial influence on 
crops. 
The following is an analysis of a sample recently analysed 
by me :— 
Basic Cinder. 
Moisture "20 
Water of combination, &c 3 "24 
*Pliosphoric acid 16*36 
Lime 45 • 08 
Ferric oxide 12-26 
Ferrous oxide 6 "11 
Alumina 6 • 21 
Magnesia 2-99 
Sulphuric acid •34 
Insoluble siliceous matter 7 ■ 21 
100-00 
* Equal to tribasic phosphate of lime 35 -71 
The secret of its efficacy, it would appear, lies in the fact of 
its being most finely ground ; and it is maintained that, if this 
is done, the value of the slag is very great, and that, roughly 
speaking, 4 cwt. of it applied per acre would be about equal 
in effect to 3 cwt. per acre of mineral superphosphate. 
At my request several gentlemen undertook last year to 
experiment with the slag, or " basic cinder," as it is called, but 
the reports that have reached me have not been satisfactory. I 
am assured, however, that this is due solely to the material not 
having been ground finely enough, and that, since then, new 
machinery has been set up to accomplish this purpose. The 
material contains elements which, without doubt, ought to 
render it useful as a manure, and I should consider it well 
worth a trial, though for the present I prefer to withhold my 
judgment upon it, intending, as I do, to make experiments with 
it myself this year. 
Meantime the purchaser should be careful to stipulate for 
being supplied with the " cinder " in a state of excessively fine 
division, and of guaranteed quality. 
I have contributed the following Papers to the ' Journal ' of 
the Society d uring' the year : — 
1. Report on the Field and Feeding Experiments at Woburn 
during the year 1885. 
