Annual Report for 1888 of ilie ComuUincj CJiemid. 317 
of those who by standing out for pure cakes do succeed in get- 
ting them, and this is generally the case with members who are 
in the habit of sending cakes for examination, and who, I am 
sure, reap the benefit of doing so. The manufacturers and 
dealers know perfectly well who are the customers that get 
samples analysed and those that do not, and they frequently 
treat their customers accordingly. It is among those who do 
their business loosely and look merely for low-priced cakes that 
the ready receivers of inferior goods are to be found. The 
following extract from a French " Law to punish Fraudulent 
Manure-dealers," a translation of which has been issued by the 
Agricultural Department of the Privy Council, is interesting in 
this connection : — 
Article 1. — Those who in selling, or causing to be sold, artificial manures, 
or fertilisers, shall have deceived, or endeavoured to deceive, the purchasers, 
either in respect of their nature, their composition, or the quantity of valu- 
able elements they contain, or as to the use of any name, to designate or 
qualify them, which is customai'ily given to other fertilising substances, 
shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of from six days to one month, 
and a fine of from 50 to 2,000 francs, or by one only of these punishments. 
In the case of a second offence committed within thi'ee years alter the first 
conviction the punishment shall be increased to two months' imprisonment, 
and a fine of 4,000 francs. 
Article 2. — In the cases -within the purview of the preceding article the 
tribunals may, in addition to the pains and penalties therein provided, order 
that the various sentences shall be published either in the form of extracts 
or fully, in newspapers to be selected, and posted on the doors of the houses 
and workshops and storehouses of the vendor, and on the door of the 
town hall of the place in which he resides, as well as of that where the pur^ 
chaser lives. 
After a second conviction within five years these publications and public 
postings shall always be ordered. 
It is a pleasure to note that there are many good firms who 
have made a point of sending out nothing but pure cakes, and I 
am aware of hardly any case where they have failed, or experi- 
enced any difficulty, in keeping up to the standard of the re- 
quirements I laid down in my last Annual Report. 
American Calces. — These have been as usual hard-pressed, 
and have been found not nearly so pure as formerly. I might 
also say in regard to many of the foreign cakes sold by dealers, 
and which — being of foreign manufacture — the vendors will not 
guarantee, that several cases have come before me where such 
cakes are sold on Mark Lane, and the purchaser has been shown 
an analysis of them with a foot-note as to their being pure. Such 
printed circulars are, I would point out, quite worthless, unless 
accompanied by a written guarantee that the delivery shall be 
equal to the analysis exhibited. 
Undecorticated Cotton-cake has been generally good and free 
