GENERAL ANALYTICAL PROCESSES.
6. Taking Samples.—It is impracticable to give definite directions for taking samples of fertilizers which will be applicable to all kinds of material and in all circumstances. If the chemist himself have charge of the taking of the sample, it will probably be sufficient to say that it should accurately represent the total mass of material sampled. Generally the samples which are brought to the chemist have been taken without his advice or direction and he is simply called upon to make an analysis of them.
Figure. 1.
Apparatus for Crushing Mineral Fertilizers.
7. Minerals Containing Fertilizing Materials.—When possible, the samples should be accompanied by a description of the mines where they are procured and a statement of the geologic conditions in which the deposits were made. As large a quantity of the material as can be conveniently obtained and transported should be secured. Where a large quantity of mineral matter is at hand it should first be put through a crusher. Many forms of crusher, driven by hand and other power, are on the market. Among these may be mentioned the Alden, Blake, Bisworth, Forster, and Lipsay machines.[3] They are all constructed essentially on the same principle, the pieces of mineral being broken into small fragments between two heavy vibrating steel plates. The general form of these instruments is seen in [Fig. 1.]
The fragments coming from the crusher can be reduced to a coarse powder by means of the iron plate and crusher shown in [Fig. 2].
Where only a small quantity of mineral is at hand the apparatus just mentioned may be used at once after breaking the sample into small fragments by means of a hammer.
Finally the sample, if to be dissolved in an acid or soluble materials only, is reduced to a powder in an iron mortar until it will pass a sieve with a one or, better, one-half millimeter circular mesh. The powder thus obtained must be stirred with a magnet to remove all iron particles that may have been incorporated with the mass by abrasion of the instruments employed.
If a complete mineral analysis of the sample is to be secured, the material freed from iron, as above described, is to be rubbed to an impalpable powder in an agate mortar.