AGKK TLTI'KAL liOTANV. 955 



There was an increase on the plat receiving manganese of 22.5 per cent in total 

 crop, 17.4 per cenl in -rain, an. I 26percenl in straw. The grain from the manganese 

 plat was somewhal heavier than that from the other and contained somewhat less 

 water, but was otherwise of practically the same composition. The percentage of 

 manganese presenl in the grain was verj minute. 



The recovery of products of commercial value from sewage sludge, .1. 

 Gbossmann {Jour. Soc. ('him. ///'/".-■., : 'i (1905), No. /.'. pp. 656 659). — A plant con- 

 structed at Bradford in Yorkshire, on plans prepared l>\ the author, for the distilla- 

 tion <>t" Bewage sludge is described and the principles upon which plants should be 

 constructed and operated arc discussed. These in brief an- a- follows: 



"(1) The Bludge should It heated in comparatively thin layers. . . . (2) The 

 furnaces should he capable of maintaining an even heat at temperatures varying from 

 200° to 500° C, or even more. (3) .Manual labor should be dispensed with as far as 

 possible by the substitution of mechanical appliances by \\ hich the process could be 

 made continuous, and almost automatic. (4) Under these circumstances it would 

 l»c impracticable to maintain a high vacuum, but a slight minus pressure in conjunc- 

 tion with superheated steam would be most likely to give satisfactory results." 



The products obtained in this plant, the cosl of installation of which was about 

 $20,000, ami which required 2 tons of coke per day, arc "7 tons of residue, contain- 

 ing besides free carbon about 2 percent of nitrogen, corresponding to 8 percent of 

 ammonia sulphate and 1 per cent of phosphoric acid, equal to a little over 2 per cent 

 of calcium phosphate, and a quantity of grease which depend.- on the original quan- 

 tity contained in the Bludge." Mean- of increasing the salable products are discussed. 



Plant analysis as an aid in estimating the manurial requirements, with 

 special reference to hops, 1'. Schneider ( Wchnschr. limn., .-/ \ 1905 |, pp. ; 

 aba. in Chem. Centbl., 1905, II. pp. 970,971; ./<>ur. Chem. Soc. [Low/on], 88 (1905), 

 No. 517, 11. p. 755). — The analyses made by theauthor show that the more advanced 

 leaves of hops showed a definite minimum of phosphoric acid when this substance 

 was deficient in the soil. This was most evident at time of the first crop in the lower 

 leaves, but at time of the second crop in the upper leaves. The nitrogen followed 

 tlie same course as that of phosphoric acid ami was best detected by analysis of tin- 

 leaves. No definite results, however, could be obtained in the case of potassium, 

 magnesium, and calcium. 



Analysis of commercial fertilizers sold in Maryland, II. I'.. McDonnell ET 

 Ai>. (M>l. Agr. Col. Quart., 1905, No. 29, />/<. 64). — This is a report on fertilizer inspec- 

 tion during the period from March to June, L905, inclusive. 



Inspection of fertilizers in 1905, F. W. Mobbe ET ai.. (New lln,ii/>s}iir< sta. 

 Bvi. l .'■'>, pp. 133-144)- — This bulletin gives the results of analyses of 105 brands of 

 mixed fertilizers collected by the State hoard of agriculture and analyzed by the 

 chemist of the station. It also contains a short article on the use of commercial fer- 

 tilizers. Among the samples inspected ••there wen- 27 cases of failure to equal the 

 guarantee in one or more ingredients, but in all hut 9 of them a lack in -me element 

 was made good by an excess of another without affecting the value of the goods. 

 The majority of deficits was found in available phosphoric acid in the Lower grades 

 of goods." 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Calcium as a plant nutrient, V. V. Yebmakov (Zhur. <>j>nitn. Aaron. (Russ. 

 .Ion,-. Expt. Landw.), 6 [1906), No. 1, j>j>. 68-65). — The author carried on a series of 

 experiments in light and darkness with seedlings of lmckwheat, hlue lupines, and 

 detached leaves of various plants, to test the effect of calcium as e plant nutrient. 



Seedlings were placed in normal nutritive solutions containing calcium salts and 

 in solutions without calcium Baits, and afterwards the plants were examined for the 



