318 Anmud Report for 1888 of the Consulting Chemist. 
from admixture. Complaints as to woolliness and coarse husk 
have been less common; on the other hand, stateness and 
mouldiness have been more prevalent. I consider there is very- 
great risk in using cakes that are mouldy or in bad condition. 
The price of common cotton-cake has gone up so much, and so 
nearly approaches that of decorticated cotton-cake, that I am 
quite at a loss to believe in its economy as compai-ed with the 
latter. I am aware of the objection to decorticated cotton-cake 
on the score of hardness ; but if obtained of fair quality, and if 
reasonable care is taken to break it small, I cannot but think, 
considering its high manurial value and feeding properties, it is of 
immensely superior worth. Decorticated cotton-cake has cer- 
tainly improved on the whole, though it will take time to remove 
the prejudices which have arisen against it. Still, speaking 
from the experience of twelve years' use of it at Woburn, there 
has not been a single instance of harm done to beasts or 
sheep, and it always tells well — while there is nothing equal to 
it for manurial pui-poses. As I have pointed out, one should 
always get the best quality of this cake, even if the cost be some- 
what more — which is not always the case. 
Manures. — The chief feature to note is the rise in prices, 
consequent on the increased freight and the difficulties of pro- 
curing the raw materials. The farmer may think this hard on 
him ; and, though he is naturally opposed to " rings " in the 
manure or other trades, it must be borne in mind that the prices 
charged before were really fictitious ones, arising out of compe- 
tition of an unfair character, and resulting in the farmer being 
able to get manures (principally superphosphate) supplied to 
him at prices which did not cover the cost of manufacture. It 
is not well that even agriculturists should benefit at the expense 
of a great and important industry, to which the farmers of this 
country really owe very much, and the traders in which are too 
often, as a class, maligned, the good and bad alike. 
I ought to mention here an interesting paper on " Our Supply 
of Phosphates for the Manufacture of Superphosphate and other 
Manures," read by Mr. Hermann Voss before the Chemical 
Manure Manufacturers' Association in December last, and since 
issued as a pamphlet, obtainable from Messrs. Farquharson, 
Roberts & Co., 7 Upper Thames Street, E.G. In this paper 
useful tables of our imports of phosphatic materials are given 
for the last ten years, with a review of the different countries 
which contribute to the supply. 
Owing to the Merchandise Marks Act, the question of what 
constitutes Pure Dissolved Bones has been taken into considera- 
tion by manufacturers, and it was resolved that by this term 
