330 Quarterly Report of the Chemical Committee, June, 1894 . 
Not only lias this cake considerably less oil than it is stated to contain, 
but it is a very impure cake, containing a large quantity of foreign weed 
seeds and starchy impurities. Polygonum and spurry are the chief weed 
seeds. Such a cake ought not to be sold under the name Linseed-cake, 
and if you have bought it for this I would advise you to send it back. 
In reply to inquiries, Mr. Drewitt said that he knew the vendor 
to be an honourable man who did not know the cake to be impure, 
but had sold it relying on the wholesale merchant in London. 
Nitrate of Soda. 
The Committee think it desirable to call attention to the 
changes which have taken place in the methods of sale and 
the quality of Nitrate of Soda since the introduction of the 
Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act. 
Previous to this time, it was the exception for any sample sold 
to a farmer by a respectable merchant to analyse below “ 95 per 
cent, purity.” Everyone knew what “ 95 per cent, pure ” meant 
in the case of nitrate of soda, and this quality was, as stated, 
the minimum one generally met with. The introduction of the 
Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act has, however, caused the 
well-understood and recognised term “ 95 per cent, pure ” to be 
replaced wholly, or in part, by a statement of the percentage of 
nitrogen which the sample shall at least contain. The farmer 
has no idea how much nitrogen there ought to be in what he 
always knew as “ 95 per cent, pure,” and, as illustrated in case 
No. 6 quoted in this report, it is to be feared that he is often 
misled by the representations given him. 
The percentage of nitrogen in “ 95 per cent, pure ” nitrate of 
soda should be 15’6. 
It is also noticeable that the quality of Nitrate of Soda has 
very markedly deteriorated of late. It is rather the exception 
now to meet with a sample that analyses “ 95 per cent.,” and 
the greater number now yield only about 93 per cent, of pure 
Nitrate of Soda. 
Emlyjj, 
June 5, 1894. 
Chairman 
