( lsxvii ) 
Instructions for 
Selecting & Sending Samples for Analysis. 
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.' 
1. A sample taken for analysis should be fairly representative of the hulk 
from which it has been drawn. 
2. The sample should reach the Analyst in the same condition as it was at 
the time when drawn. 
FEEDING-STUFFS. 
Linseed, Cotton, and other Feeding Cakes.— If a single cake be 
taken, it should be broken across the middle, and oil each half and along the 
middle line, two strips about four inches wide should be broken off right 
across the cake, one piece to be sent for analysis, and the other retained for 
reference. The piece forwarded for analysis can be wrapped in paper, and be 
sent by post or rail. 
A more satisfactory plan is to select four to six cakes from different parts 
of the delivery, then break off a piece about four inches wide from the 
middle of each cake, and pass these pieces through a cake-breaker. The 
broken cake should then be well mixed, and about 1 lb. of it be forwarded, in 
a tin or bag, for analysis, the remainder being kept for reference. It is 
advisable, also, with the broken pieces to send a small strip from an unbroken 
cake. 
Feeding-meals, Grain, &c. — Handfuls should be drawn from the 
centre of half-a-dozen different bags of the delivery; these lots should then 
be well mixed, and two |-lb. tins or bags filled from the heap, one to be for- 
warded for analysis and the other retained for reference. 
MANURES. 
When Manures are delivered in bags, select four or five of these from 
the bulk, and either turn them out on a floor and rapidly mix their contents ; 
or else drive a shovel into each bag and draw out from as near the centre as 
possible a couple of shovelfuls of the manure, and mix these quickly on a floor. 
Halve the heap obtained in either of these ways, take one-half (rejecting 
the other) and mix again rapidly, flattening down with the shovel any lumps 
that appear. Repeat this operation until at last only some 3 or 4 lbs. are left. 
From this fill two tins, holding from J-lb. to 1-lb. each, and send one for 
analysis, and retain the other for reference. 
Or, the manure may be put into glass bottles provided with well-fitting 
corks, the bottles being then packed in wooden boxes and sent by post or rail. 
When manures are delivered in bulk, portions should be successively drawn 
from different parts of the bulk, the heap being turned over now and again. 
The portions drawn should be thoroughly mixed, subdivided, and, finally, 
1 For more detailed directions as to the sampling of manures and feeding-stuffs, see Journal, 
Third Serie*, Yol. II., No. Till., December, 1891, pp. 858-863. 
