252  Quarterly  Reports  of  the  Chemical  Committee,  1882. 
animals  which  Mr.  Laing  lost  died  from  inflammation  of  the 
intestines. 
4.  A case  of  artificial  manure  of  extravagant  price  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  Committee,  which  is  not  published  because  the 
manure  was  not  sold  by  analysis — but  the  makers,  in  a letter  of 
justification,  refer  to  their  agents’  commissions  as  an  important 
element  in  the  price  of  the  manure.  The  Committee  feel  that 
this  question  of  commission  to  agents  is  one  which  consumers 
and  honest  manufacturers  ought  to  set  their  faces  against  most 
strongly.  The  Committee  have  good  reason  to  know  that  the 
worse  the  manure,  the  higher  frequently  is  the  commission  paid, 
and  that  this  is  often  as  much  as  from  10  to  20  per  cent,  of  the 
price  of  the  manure. 
5.  A sample  of  manure,  said  by  the  makers  to  be  a blood  and 
bone  manure,  was  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  R.  M.  Knowles,  Colston 
Bassett,  Bingham,  Notts.  The  manure  was  sold  at  4 1.  per  ton 
in  bags  at  the  works. 
On  analysis,  the  following  results  wrere  obtained  : — 
Water  29  "49 
^Organic  matter  22  • 85 
Phosphate  of  lime 2 "21 
Sulphate  offline  9 '81 
Oxide  of  iron,  &c 6 ‘86 
Siliceous  matter  28 -78 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen 1-06 
Equal  to  ammonia  1-29 
This  is  a poor  manure.  I would  rather  have  tw-o  tons  of 
good  rotten  dung  than  one  ton  of  this  stuff : I need  not  say, 
therefore,  that  4 1.  is  a most  extravagant  price  for  this  so-called 
blood  and  bone  manure. 
On  receipt  of  my  report,  Mr.  Knowles  wTrote  to  the  makers, 
making  a very  strong  complaint.  The  makers  replied  that 
there  must  be  a mistake  somewhere,  and  enclosed  the  subjoined 
report  and  analysis,  which  differs  essentially  from  the  results 
which  I obtained  in  the  analysis  of  the  samples  sent  to  me  by 
Mr.  Knowles. 
“ Gentlemen, — Below  please  find  results  of  our  analysis  of  the  second 
sample  of  manure  which  you  handed  to  us  on  the  16th  inst. 
Moisture 20-09 
*Organic  matter  39 " 25 
Sulphate  of  lime  8 'll 
Alkaline  salts 1T3 
f Mineral  matter  31*39 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen  equal  to  ammonia  ..  5-032 
t Containing  phosphoric  acid S'OoO 
