552 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



view, which assumes a conversion of the acid of the grapes 

 in the later stages of their growth into grape-sugar, does not 

 agree with our present information. Dr. Neubauer, in his 

 interesting investigations of the German grapes, came to sim- 

 ilar conclusions. . . . The sugar increases during the last pe- 

 riod of ripening but little, and, apparently, in part from con- 

 centration of the juice by loss of moisture. . . . The aromatic 

 principles become more prominent at the close of the ripen- 

 ing process, in all probability in consequence of a reaction 

 of the albuminoids on the grape-sugar. They consist usual- 

 ly of combinations of alcohols with fatty acids (compound 



ethers)." 



Feeding Capacities of Plants. 



Researches in the laboratory and experiments in the green- 

 house and in the field have told us pretty definitely what are 

 the ingredients of plant-food, and whence nearly all of them 

 come, but we are still very much in the dark about many of 

 the details of the ways in which plants gather their nourish- 

 ment from soil and air. It is a well-attested fact, though we 

 know as yet very little about how or why it is so, that dif- 

 ferent kinds of plants have different capacities for making 

 use of the stores of food that soil and air contain. Clover 

 will get plenty of nitrogen where wheat will fail for lack of 

 it. Nitrogenous manures help clover but little, and are al- 

 most a specific for wheat; and this notwithstanding clover 

 contains a great deal and wheat but little nitrogen. On the 

 other hand, the growth of clover is favored remarkably by 

 mineral and especially potassic fertilizers, while potash usu- 

 ally does but little good for wheat, oats, barley, and the like, 

 except on soils whose available stock of it is very low. 

 Phosphates are almost a specific for turnips. 



More light has come upon these questions from the exper- 

 iments by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert in England than from 

 any other source ; though Ville, in France, has done a great 

 deal by experiments, writings, and formulas for fertilizers to 

 promote their discussion and solution. With the increasing 

 use of artificial fertilizers, they have come to be among the 

 most important with which the farming of to-day has to deal. 



The Feeding Capacity of the Maize -Plant. 



In his lately published book on " Manures," Mr. Joseph 



