SOIL PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND MICROBIOLOGY I0S3 



such is Urohacillus Beijerinckii, isolated and carefulh- studied by the 

 writer (i). 



IX. — Method of determining the Capacity of the Soil for decomposing 

 Cellulose. — This new method described by the writer presents the ad- 

 vantage that b}^ adopting a substance made up exchisively of the com- 

 pounds of nitrogen required for the nutrition of the microbes and con- 

 taining no utiHsable nitrogen or mineral substances (in this case filter 

 paper without ash) the rapidity with which cellulose is decomposed must 

 be related to the quantity' of cellulose contained in the soil in a form 

 accessible to microbes (2). 



X. — - Further Researches into the Formation of Nitric Acid in Stable 

 Manure and the Soil. — ■ A critical review of the literature on this 

 question (3). 



XI. — Microbiological Researches into Peat Soils. — In the first part 

 of this work the Author deals with the characters presented by the flora of 

 uncultivated peat soils ; in the second, with the chemical composition of 

 peat soils, and finally, in the third, with the microbiological state of peat 

 beds brought under cultivation. From this last point of view, he notes a 

 great difference between peat beds formed by sphagnum and infra-aquatic 

 peat beds. The former are distinguished by their feeble tendency to split 

 up peptones, their high denitrifying powder, their very (jvesk capacity for 

 decomposing cellulose and mannite. Infra-aquatic peats exhibit a diame- 

 trically opposite behaviour, and it is of interest to note that these peats in 

 addition to having a strong acid reaction, contain a considerable number 

 of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It must consequently be supposed that the 

 existence of these differences between the two formations will facilitate the 

 study of yet unexplored peat beds (4). 



XII. — Determination and Significance of the Reaction and Basic Quality 

 of the Soil. — A report submitted to the International Congress of Agricul- 

 ture at Ghent in 1913, and forming an exposition and a critical examina- 

 tion of the methods proposed by the author for determining the basic reac- 

 tions of the soil, the putting into practice of these methods and their im- 

 portance in soil research. It is indispensable that landowners should know- 

 the reaction and basic quality in order to draw logical conclusions as to 

 cultural methods. 



XIII. — ■ Relation between the Properties of the Soil and the Utilisation 

 of different Phosphates. — The tricalcic phosphate found in bones and na- 



(i ) Tidsskrift for Landbrugets Planteavl, VoL XVII, pp. XVII. pp. 79-109. Copenhagen, 1910. 

 — CentralhlaU fur Bakteriologie, Parasitenhunde und Infektionskrankheiten II, VoL XXVII, 

 PP- 336-362. Jena, 1910. 



(2) Tiddskrift for Landbrw^ds Planteavl, VoL XVII, pp. 356-350. Copenhagen, 1910. — 

 CenlralblaU fiir Bakteriologie, Parasitcnkundc und Infektionskrankheiten II, VoL XXVII, pp. 449- 

 451. Jena, 1910. 



(3) Tidsskrift for Landbru'^els Planteavl., VoL XVIII, pp. 167-176. Copenhagen, 191 1. 



(4) With Mentz A. and Overgaarii (). : Tidsskrift for Landlnuy^ets Planteavl, VoL XTX, 

 PP- 595-65-- Copenhagen, i<)i2. — Centralblatt fiir liakteiiolo^ie, I'arasitenkunde ittul Iniek- 

 liiiHskrankheiten II, VoL 37, pp. 414-431. Jena, 1912. 



