Liver of sulphur, according to Thorpe, is an alchemistic term coming down to us from a time when there was no clear distinction between the alkalies, potash and soda. As a rule, the preparation was made from crude carbonate of potash, mainly for the reason that this substance was more easily procurable than soda. It was obtained “ by fusing in a Hessian crucible a quantity of potassium carbonate with half its weight of flowers of sulphur, and the fused mass poured out on a greased flagstone and allowed to solidify.” From the peculiar liver-brown colour the product derived its name.

The experiments carried out by the Home Grown Wheat Committee of the National Association of British and Irish Millers have demonstrated the important fact that certain varieties of wheat retain their strength under our conditions. One of the best known of these varieties is Red Fife, the grain of which forms the basis of the graded wheat known as Manitoba Hard. Red Fife has now been tested in this country for six seasons and its strength is still found to be equal to that of the same variety when grown in Canada. Further a somewhat impure stock of the same variety has been cultivated in the Midlands for some sixteen seasons without showing any signs of diminution in strength. As grain of this character is considerably more valuable than that generally grown in this country and as there is a steadily increasing demand for it, the Committee recommended the experimental cultivation of Red Fife in various parts of the country. The results of these trials have shown that in some localities Red Fife will produce more profitable crops than any of the common English wheats, though in others its yield is too small for its profitable cultivation. In spite of very complete returns furnished by growers in most parts of the country it seems impossible at present to state with any precision what the factors are which determine whether it can be grown successfully. Its extended cultivation has also brought out the fact that the straw is not as rigid as the farmer would wish it to be and more than one grower has condemned the variety on this account.

It has recently been shown that the soil of some of the Rothamsted Grass Plots which have received ammonium salts for many years in succession has become distinctly acid and that, consequently, nitrifying organisms have become greatly reduced in numbers. Nitrification is limited to portions of soil directly in contact with the few particles of calcium carbonate still remaining in the soil. It is evident therefore that more or less of the nitrogen assimilated by the grasses must be in a form, or in forms, other than nitrate—probably mainly as ammonium salt. In view of these results it seemed desirable to obtain additional evidence of direct assimilation of ammonium salts by plants.

In spite of the enormous mass of literature dealing with cattle-dipping, the actual amount of definite information on the subject is very small considering its vast economic importance. On this account this communication should be of interest.

Although the study of the action of Bacteria in pathogenic relation to the higher plants may be described as in its infancy, a great deal of sound work has been done in this branch of Phytopathology, and various types of bacterial diseases have been definitely established.

Several years ago the writer's attention was called to the apparently favourable influence of field peas on oats when the two were grown together. The rank growth of the oats, their dark-green colour and the delayed ripening gave every indication of an abundant supply of available nitrogen compounds. On the other hand, oats seeded without the peas, at about the same time, were less rank in their growth and matured at an earlier date. Further observation and inquiry strengthened the impression in the writer's mind that the associative growth of legumes and non-legumes is frequently advantageous to the latter in that they are supplied with nitrogen compounds derived either from the decay of the fibrous roots of the legumes, or from the soluble materials passing out of the roots into the surrounding soil.

Attention is drawn to the need for caution in interpreting experimental results.

Frequency curves are discussed, chiefly from the point of view of their bearing on the legitimacy of averaging results.

The method of calculating probable error is described and its meaning explained.

The application of probable error methods to questions of sampling for analysis, to field experiments and to feeding experiments, are illustrated by instances.

The probable error of one animal on a fattening ration is found to be about 14 per cent, of the live-weight increase produced, from which it is calculated that to obtain a precision of 10 per cent, in an ordinary feeding experiment 29 animals must be fed on each ration.

The probable error of field experiments is investigated by two independent methods, and found to be about 5 per cent, of the crop. This figure is shown to be independent of the size of the plot employed, provided this is acre or larger. A table is given showing the number of duplicate plots which must be employed to give any desired precision in the result.

It is also suggested that accurate results may be obtained by employing large numbers of very small plots, even as small as one square yard. This method is useful for nursery work in testing the cropping power of new varieties of cereals where very little seed is available.

A study during 1907 and 1908 of various plots of wheat cut at three-day intervals leads to the following general conclusions:

(1) The whole plant, and with it the nitrogen, ash, and phosphoric acid it contains, increases in weight until about a week before it would be regarded as ready to cut. Some decrease of dry weight takes place during the last week.

(2) In the formation of the grain three stages may be distinguished:

(a) a period during which the pericarp is the most prominent feature,

(b) the main period during which the endosperm is filled,

(c) the ripening period characterised by the desiccation of the grain.

(3) For the filling of the endosperm each plant possesses as it were a special mould, and continually moves into the grain uniform material cast in that mould, possessing always the same ratio of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous materials and ash. The character of the mould possessed by each plant is determined by variety, soil, season, &c.

(4) The main feature of the ripening process is desiccation rather than the setting in of such chemical changes as the conversion of sugars into starch, non-protein into protein, though the latter change also takes place.

(5) The maximum dry weight of grain is attained a day or two before the grain would be regarded as ripe by the farmer. Allowing for the fact that the tillered shoots are a little behind the central shoots, no loss of weight in the crop will be incurred by cutting before the corn appears quite ripe, while a number of accidental mechanical losses due to birds, shedding, weather, may thus be avoided. Other experiments have shown that, though there may be no gain, there will be no loss in the quality of the wheat due to such early cutting.

Soils in the green-house are exposed to conditions that are admittedly more or less artificial. The range of temperature and moisture is not the same as that in field soils, while the aeration of green-house soils is, if anything, even more artificial. The artificial conditions are emphasized still more strongly when the soil is kept in small pots. The operations incident to the filling of the pots and the applications of fertilizers involve a more intimate contact of the soil particles with atmospheric oxygen than is possible under field or garden conditions. This leads to an abnormal multiplication of the soil bacteria and to a consequent abnormally rapid oxidation of the organic matter. In the course of time the more readily decomposable portions of the organic matter in the soil become depleted and this is followed, in turn, by a decline in the numbers of bacteria that will grow on agar plates. It is possible that the rapid falling off in numbers is due not merely to the depletion of the readily decomposable organic matter, but also to the accumulation of certain cleavage products injurious to the bacteria. Of the latter factor we have no direct knowledge and it is referred to in this place only as a possible explanation of the facts recorded below. It may be added here, also, that the greatly decreased number of bacteria appearing on agar plates should not be accepted as absolute proof that the total number of microorganisms in the soil had diminished. There is a possibility that a compensating increase had occurred of bacteria that do not grow on agar plates, as for instance, the nitrous and nitric ferments, etc.….

Numerous investigations have been made on the amounts of combined nitrogen in rain and snow in different parts of the world during the last 60 years.

As a result of a bad attack in tea gardens of blister blight caused by the fungus Exobasidium vexans, Mr McRae, the officiating Imperial Mycologist, was deputed by Government to combat the disease. Mr McRae has tried the effect of spraying the tea bushes with Bordeaux mixture on an experimental scale. In view, however, of the recent scare in America over the sale of grapes sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, it was thought desirable to have these spraying experiments under chemical control. Accordingly an area in a tea garden was set apart and the bushes sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. After nine days the tea was picked both from the sprayed and from an unsprayed area, and about 80 lbs. (a chest) of tea was manufactured from the produce of each area. Great care was taken to prevent contamination. Samples of tea both from the sprayed and unsprayed areas were carefully sealed up and sent to this office for analysis. None of this tea was put on the market.

Very few analyses of gas lime have been published; consequently the following analyses made in the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Cambridge may be of interest to readers of this Journal.

The samples of gas lime were obtained from the Cambridge Gas Works. One was what is known as carbonated lime, that is to say, lime which had been used for purifying the gas after it had previously been purified by hydrated ferric oxide. This sample, as shown by the analysis, is practically moist calcium carbonate. It was obtained in a perfectly fresh condition. The second sample was described by the Works Manager as “sulphided lime.” It had been used for purifying gas without the previous use of ferric hydrate. A sample was taken from the centre of a large heap which had been standing for about a year.

The attention of the writer was called recently to a publication of E. J. Russell and Norman Smith in this Journal, stating among other things that the observation of the writer of the production of nitrous acid and to a small amount of ammonium nitrite by platinum black in presence of alkaline bases as potash or baryta and air could not be realised by those authors. Since this failure was considered by others as a refutation of my observation, a few lines of explanation may be in order.

1. Internal Disease has been found to occur throughout numerous samples of potato of known variety such as for example: “The Sutton Flourball,” “Sharpe's Express,” etc.; similarly, Streak-disease has been found in samples of certain other varieties such as: “British Queen,” “Edina,” “Duke of York,” etc.

2. Well-developed Internal Disease has been detected in very young tubers.

3. The markings in Internal Disease and Streak-disease may or may not form a connected system in the tissue of the potato, sometimes the discoloured areas are quite isolated. The diseased cells can be easily traced to within a few cells of the cork-layer (skin). In Streak-disease they can be occasionally traced right up to the cork or to a slight injury to the surface of the tuber.

4. No trace of a hyphal organism could be found either within the cells or intercellular spaces of diseased tissue. The cells are killed, often retaining their starch in an unaltered condition. If the disease is propagated from cell to cell it takes place without an easily visible deterioration of the cell-wall in the initial stages.

5. Internal Disease and Streak-disease did not spread in store under the experimental condition described.

6. In every experiment samples of potatoes affected with Internal Disease and Streak-disease whether planted in Devonshire or Northumberland produced a certain proportion of tubers affected with these diseases.

7. The diseases in question are frequently complicated by the presence of Phytopthora infestans in the field and Fusarium solani in the pit or store.

To those who for the first time visit a tropical country nothing is more striking than the extraordinary profusion of insect life. Some by their abundance, others by their bizarre form, others again by the brilliance of their colouring or through some suggestive vague resemblance to familiar northern forms, stimulate curiosity and excite a longing to learn more of their strange lives. This need the authours have attempted to satisfy in so far as it can be done within the limits of a single volume. Such a work must of course be sketchy, and probably no one realises this better that the authors themselves. Insects are already responsible for 14 volumes of the Fauna of British India and the tale is yet to run.