437 



Cotton lint and seed. — A recent essay by William J. Land, sent 

 to the Boston Journal of Chemistry, contains analyses representing the 

 composition of cotton-seed and cotton-lint to be as follows : 



Cotton-lint. Cotton-seed. 



Potash 50.371 36.712 



Soda 2.672 0.839 



Magnesia 11.191 15.600 



Lime 7.912 4.609 



Phosplioric acid 4.285 31.093 



Sulpliuric acid 4.112 3.337 



Oxide of iron and alumina 1.508 1.113 



Oxide of manganese .714 



Chlorine 2.213 0.507 



Sand and charcoal 15.112 6.190 



100.000 100.000 



The lint contained 0.855 per cent, mineral matter ; and the seed, 3.59 

 per cent. 



The same journal also contains the conclusions of a report of experi- 

 ments with different fertilizers on the cotton plant by Mr. E. M. Pendle- 

 ton. They are as follows : 



That no compound which does not contain soluble phosphoric acid will pay upon the 

 worn-out soils. That 200 pounds of a good ammoniated superphosphate is about tlie 

 quantity to be used on an acre of cotton ; but with bad cultivation it will hardly 

 pay at any price. That cotton-seed makes a good fertilizer when used in connection 

 with good superphosphate. 



Quantity of water consumed in growth of wheat.* — Experi- 

 ments made at the observatory of Montsouris during the year 1873 show 

 that wheat sown in pots filled with soil from the park and watered each 

 day consumes by way of transpiration from germination until maturity 

 1,796 grains of water to produce 1 gram of grain. Calculations con- 

 sequent upon this result indicate that 30 hectoliters of grain grown 

 upon an area of one hectare requires for its production a quantity of 

 water corresponding to a stratum of 0.432 millimeters in thickness, and if 

 this amount be added to the amount of water removed from the soil by 

 evaporation it forms a total, higher than the average amount of rain- 

 fall for the entire year in the vicinity of Paris. It would therefore seem 

 that the yield of wheat in the neighborhood of Paris must be limited 

 by the volume of water generally available in the fields. 



Woodward and Lawes' experiments indicated that the relation be- 

 tween the amount of water consumed and the weight of grain produced 

 may vary with the nature of the soil and with the quality and quantity 

 of fertilizers which may have been employed. This idea was made the 

 subject of experiment at the same place during the year 1874, and the 

 conclusions arrived at were, that " the fertility of a soil can never be 

 absolute. It changes according to the climate, and even from one year 

 to another, according to the sum of the light, heat, and moisture it 

 receives. The quantity of water necessary to produce a crop cannot 

 be considered any more absolute. It depends upon the sum of the 

 useful mineral matters with which the water may be charged. To a 

 certain extent the water may supply the fertilizer, and to a certain 

 extent the fertilizer may supply the water. This, when suited to the 

 soil, produces a decided economy in the mass of water consumed." 



^Comptes Keudus, t. Ixxix, 208. 



