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XVI. — On the Commercial Value of Artificial Manures. By 
Dr. Augustus Voelcker. 
Not more than fifteen or twenty years ago the manufacture and 
sale of artificial manures partook more of the character of a 
venturous speculation than of that of a legitimate, well-regulated 
business. Few men of substance and character were then 
willing to embark their skill and capital in a new and untried 
undertaking. On the other hand, many persons thrown out of 
employment — having little or nothing to lose, and everything to 
gain — eagerly seized the opportunity of making a living by pre- 
paring and selling compounds many of which scarcely deserved 
tlie name of artificial manure. At that time inferior, altogether 
trashy mixtures, were the rule, and well-prepared, intrinsically 
valuable fertilisers quite the exception. 
Like other agricultural chemists, I directed public attention 
to the extensive frauds to which the unsuspecting farmers of 
England were subjected, and was one of the first who published, 
with a view still further to check the nefarious dealings of un- 
scrupulous persons, a valuation-table or priced-list of the various 
fertilising constituents usually entering into the composition of 
artificial manures. 
In conjunction with chemical analysis, the valuation-tables 
published by Professor Way, Dr. Anderson, myself, and others, 
fully answered their desired end, and it was of little or no con- 
sequence to which table preference was given. 
By degrees agriculturists learned to appreciate the material 
services which the analytical chemist was willing and capable of 
rendering to intending purchasers of artificial manures. The 
publication of these tables and their extensive use and applica- 
tion in estimating the money value of manures, have had much 
influence in rendering the manure-trade what it now is, as a 
rule, namely — a well-regulated business, carried on by men of 
substance and character, possessed of skill and commercial 
knowledge and enterprise. 
At present manure-dealers who have gained for themselves an 
unenviable notoriety can effect but few sales ; whilst in the great 
majority of cases well -prepared, concentrated manures, though 
by no means of equal value, may now be bought in almost every 
market-town at much lower rates than the cost of similar fertilisers 
if prepared by the farmer himself. 
Valuation-tables have been of great use in past times, and are 
still serviceable helps for detecting at once gross imposition ; 
