250  Quarterly  Reports  of  the  Chemical  Committee , 1882. 
The  cake  was  greatly  adulterated  with  sand  and  earthy 
matters,  and  in  my  judgment  was  not  worth  more  than  about 
3s.  3s.  per  ton. 
On  the  22nd  of  May,  1882,  Mr.  Sheringham  wrote : — 
“Dear  Sir, — I received  your  analysis  of  the  rape-cake  on  Saturday.  I 
am  glad  to  say  I have  not  bought  any  of  the  cake,  as  I waited  for  your  report 
before  doing  so,  and  have  now  laid  it  before  the  merchant  of  whom  I obtained 
the  sample ; he  is  very  much  annoyed  that  the  cake  should  be  so  different 
from  what  it  was  represented  to  him  to  be,  and  he  is  in  communication  with 
the  manufacturers  about  it.  The  merchant  brought  the  cake  at  4 1. 15s.  in  Hull, 
and  it  is  branded  pure. — Yours  faithfully. 
“ H.  Y.  Sheringham.” 
Subsequently  Mr.  Sheringham  sent  me  another  sample  of 
rape-cake,  accompanied  by  the  following  letter  : — 
“ S.  Creake,  Fakenliam,  May  26th,  1882. 
“ Dear  Sir, — A copy  of  the  analysis  I sent  to  the  crushers  of  the  manure 
rape-cake,  and  they  have  requested  a cake  to  be  sent  to  the  Hull  borough 
analyst,  before  they  will  acknowledge  anything  wrong.  This  was  sent 
yesterday,  but  a portion  of  the  same  cake  I reserved,  and  have  forwarded  it  on 
by  rail  to-day  to  your  address.  I should  feel  more  satisfied  to  have  your 
report  on  the  same  cake,  to  stand  against  theirs.  The  merchant  that  sold  me 
the  cakes  is  determined  to  have  justice  done,  and  is  on  the  point  of  taking 
legal  steps  in  the  matter. — I am,  sir,  yours  respectfully. 
“ H.  Y.  Sheringham. 
“ Dr.  Yoelcker.” 
On  analysis  of  the  second  sample,  the  following  results  were 
obtained  : — 
Moisture 8 • 55 
* Organic  mat  ter  64 '35 
Phosphate  of  lime 2*85 
Carbonate  of  lime,  &c 4 '90 
Insoluble  siliceous  matter  (sand) 19 ’35 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen 3-24 
Equal  to  ammonia  3-93 
The  second  sample,  it  will  be  seen,  was  not  so  bad  as  the 
first,  still  it  is  far  from  being  a pure  rape-cake. 
Mr.  Sheringham  informs  me  that  he  ordered  5 tons  of  Black 
Sea  rape-cake,  at  hi.  10s.  per  ton,  on  the  10th  of  May,  1882, 
from  an  agent  who  bought  the  cake  from  the  manufacturers  in 
Hull.  The  vessel  was  loaded  at  Hull,  and  the  cakes  were 
branded  “ Pure  ” (with  the  manufacturers’  initials). 
After  receipt  of  analysis,  Mr.  Sheringham  complained  to  the 
vendor,  who  forwarded  the  complaint  to  the  manufacturer,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  agent  obtained  redress  at  20s.  per  ton, 
which  he  returned  to  all  purchasers  of  the  cargo  of  cakes. 
Had  these  cakes  been  made  from  pure  seed,  the  analysis 
