RECENT WORK IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY— AGROTECHNY. 



A short handbook on the carbohydrates, B. Tollens (Kurzes Handbiwh der 

 EoJilenhydrate. Leipsic, lOlJf, 3. ed., pp. XX-\-816, figs. 30). — In this edition of 

 this well-known, authoritative handbook parts 1 and 2 have been combined. 

 The book, while not dealing with everything that has been done in the realm 

 of carbohydrate chemistry, contains the most important data which have accu- 

 mulated in this field of study, and considers both its scientific and technical 

 aspects. 



Industrial and manufacturing- chemistry : Organic, G. Martin et al. 

 {London, 1913, pp. XX-{-726, pis. 4, figs. 255).— This book deals with the 

 methods of manufacture and analysis in use in the following industries: Oil, 

 fat, varnish, soap, wax, enamel, oilcloth, linoleum, milk, butter, cheese, casein, 

 condensed milk and milk powders, margarin, fatty acids and candle-making 

 materials, glycerol, essential oil, synthetic perfume, sugar, glucose, dextrose, 

 invert sugar, honey, starch, dextrin, cellulose, wood and timber preservation, 

 paper making, mercerization, collodion, artificial silk, wine and beer making, 

 spirits and industrial alcohol, vinegar, lactic acid, butyric acid, charcoal and 

 wood-distilling, turpentine and rosin, camphor, industrial gums and resins, 

 rubber, oxalic acid, formic acid, tartaric acid, aldehydes, alcohols, esters and 

 fruit essences, illuminating gas, coal tar and coal-tar products, synthetic color- 

 ing matters, natural dyestuffs, ink, paint and pigments, textile fibers, bleaching 

 and water-proofing, dyeing and color-printing, leather and tanning, glue, 

 gelatin, albumin, modern synthetic and other drugs, modern explosives, and 

 photographic chemicals. 



The ferments and their action, C. Oppenheimee (Die Ferment e vnd Hire 

 Wirkungen. Leipsic, 1913, 4. rev. ed., vols. 1, pp. yiII+485; 2, pp. VIII-{-487- 

 1150). — The previous edition of the first volume has been noted (E. S. R., 22, 

 p. 608). The second volume has been entirely rewritten, and contains an addi- 

 tional chapter, of 158 pages, on the physical chemistry of enzyms and enzym 

 action, by R. O. Herzog. 



The presence of some benzene derivatives in soils, E. C. Shobey (U. S. 

 Dept. Agr., Jour. Agr. Research, 1 (1914), No. 5, pp. 357-363). — Three aromati-.; 

 compounds, namely, benzoic acid, metaoxytoluic acid, and vanillin, were isolated 

 from samples of sandy Florida soils. The soils were composed of quartz sand 

 ranging in color from light gray to brown, contained very little organic mat- 

 ter, and were devoted to orange culture. The organic matter is deposited as a 

 thin layer on the grains of sand, and if the soil is treated with dilute alkali, 

 it is dissolved away and pure white quartz sand remains. 



Benzoic acid was isolated from a subsoil and there were no indications to 

 show that it might be present in the corresponding surface soil. Metaoxy- 

 toluic acid was obtained in quantity only from subsoils. " The compound ob- 

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