764 
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1894 OF THE 
CONSULTING CHEMIST. 
In the past year 1,148 samples have been sent to me by members of 
the Society for analysis. A classified list of these is given at the 
end of the present report. The Society’s Chemical Department has 
been further employed in carrying out analyses in connexion with 
the Woburn Experiments and other agricultural investigations, as 
also with work arising out of the Country Meeting held at Cambridge. 
In all, 1,259 samples have this year passed through my hands. 
As regards the samples sent for analysis by members of the 
Society, it may be remarked that about the same number and 
kinds of oilcakes have been sent as in 1893, though in the matter 
of compound cakes, feeding meals, &c., there has been a not unwel- 
come reduction. I say “ not unwelcome,” because in these times 
of agricultural depression and of extremely low prices for home- 
grown corn, farmers cannot afford to pay the “ fancy ” prices which 
are not unfrequently asked for meals, <kc., made up from mate- 
rials which they could quite well purchase for themselves far more 
moderately, or, at all events, substitute others with quite as 
good results. I do not by any means say that there are not to 
be had mixed feeding meals made up of perfectly sound and good 
materials and charged at reasonable prices. But, at the same time, 
there are a great many that are the reverse of this ; and the farmer, 
it is feared, is too often led to believe that there is in them some par- 
ticular “ virtue ” which does not attach to the simpler and cheaper 
mixture which experience and market considerations would lead him 
to use on his farm. A little fenugreek or other spice, a little locust- 
bean meal or other sweetening material, may be made to go a long 
way in producing a “ tasty ” article which cattle will readily eat ; but 
it does not follow from this that the feed is an economical one. Not 
unfrequently, too, does it happen that the “ flavouring ” is made to 
cover the defects of ingredients originally not of the best or soundest 
description ; and it is no exaggeration to say that compound cakes 
and feeding materials are often the media for using up screenings, 
mill-sweepings, and impurities which have to be removed from the oil 
seeds employed in the manufacture of linseed and other cakes sold 
under a designation implying that they are “pure.” 
The point brought out that although home-grown wheat and 
barley were very cheap, yet linseed and other cakes seem to have 
been used to about an equal extent as previously, may be due to 
the fact of the dry season and short crops of 1893. But in view of 
the abundant harvest of 1894, there can be little doubt that both 
wheat and barley will be more extensively used as feeding materials 
this present winter ; and, already, the low prices for them are 
having a marked influence in keeping down the prices of linseed, 
cotton, and other oilcakes. The question of the extent to which 
home-grown produce can be profitably used to replace cake acquires, 
