RECENT WORK IX AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 



Principles and practice of agricultural analysis, II. W. Wiley {Easton, Pa., 

 WOS, vol. 2, 2. C(L rev. and cnJ., pp. XI+6S0, pis. 7, figs. .',0).—Th\s is a second 

 revised and enlarged edition of this volume, which deals with fertilizers and 

 insecticides. The preface states that "a great part of the material relating to 

 the occurrence and analysis of ammonia, nitrous and nitric acid printed in the 

 first volume of the first edition of this work has been rewritten and transferred 

 to this volume. . . . All the matter of this volume has been rewritten and 

 brought down to date. New features of moment are those relating to the pro- 

 duction of nitric acid for manurial purposes from cyanamid and by direct elec- 

 tric oxidation of the nitrogen of the air. A chapter on the analysis of insecti- 

 cides has also been added." 



Volume 1 of the work has been previously noted (E. S. R., IS, p. 607). 



Report of progress in agricultural chemistry in 1907, T. Dietrich et ai<. 

 iJahrcsbcr. Agi: CJiem., 3. so:, 10 {1907), pp. XX XT +623). —This volume 

 reviews as usual, by abstract of the more Important articles and by title of 

 those of less importance, the published accounts of the work of 1907 in the whole 

 field of agricultunil chemistry. 



The more important articles on sugar chemistry which have appeared in 

 1908, E. O. vox LiPPMANx (Dcut. ZHckcriufUis., 33 (1908), Xos. 2S, pp. 600- 

 603; 29, pp. 616-617; 30, pp. 636-638; 31^ {1909), Xos. 5, pp. 105-107; 6, pp. 124, 

 125; 7, pp. lJ,2-l.'iJ,; 8, pp. 161, 162).— A digest of recent investigations. 



The solubility of lime in water, G. T. Moody and L. T. Leyson {Jour. Chem. 

 *Soc. [London], 93 {1908), Xo. 553, pp. 1767-1772, figs. 2; ahs. in Analyst, 34 

 {1909), No. 395, p. 72; Ztschr. Angew. Chem., 22 {1909), No. 9, p. 397, fig. 1).—K 

 study of various conditions affecting the solubility of lime in water, which 

 grew out of the observation that the limewater used in volumetric analysis 

 varied very greatly in composition, is reported in this article, and determinations 

 of the exact solubility of lime at temperatures of from 2° to 80° are given. 



The decomposition of feldspar by water, W. Fuxic {Ztschr. Angew. Chem., 

 22 {1909), Xo. .',, pp. I.'i5, l-',6; ahs. in Jour. Soc. Chem. Indus., 28 {1909), No. 4, 

 p. 202; Jour. Chem. Soc. [London], 96 {1909), No. 556, II, p. 146; Bui. Soc. 

 Chim. France, 4- ser., 6 {1909), No. 7, p. 491). — Tests showing the ease with 

 which a certain portion of the alkali of even the coarser particles of ground 

 feldsjmr is extracted by water alone are briefly described. 



The different forms of nitrogen in proteins, T. B. Osborne, C. S. Leaven- 

 worth and C. A. Brautlecht {Amcr. Jour. Plii/siol., 23 {1908), No. 3, pp. 180- 

 200). — As the authors point out. with available means it is not yet possible 

 to determine accurately most of the monoamino-acids obtained in the cleavage 

 of proteids, the results obtained by the methods falling considerably below the 

 actual amount of these amino-acids which are produced by hydrolysis. 



The results of an extended study of the determination of basic products of 

 jiroteid decomposition are reported " which have led us tp believe that under 

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