2l6 JKANSACTIONS OK ROYAL SCOTTISH AKBOKICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



clay, 5700 kg. oxide of iron, 900 kg. of calcium, and 300 kg. of 

 phosphoric acid, have been washed down for each hectare. This 

 is a valuable contribution towards the theory of the formation of 

 Ortstein. The appearance of dry peat on soils inactive owing 

 to ihe absence of lime, is encouraged by the cool and rainy 

 climate of North-Western Germany, and constitutes the main 

 danger to forests in these parts. Both deciduous forests and 

 coniferous ones are affected thereby. How and to what extent 

 this danger can be avoided and counteracted is best described in 

 Edmann's admirable publications.^ 



To ascertain the bacterial life and activity in the soils was, 

 till quite recently, a difficult and complicated process, requiring 

 a special training and specially fitted-up laboratories. The time, 

 labour, and cost involved in obtaining final results, though these 

 were doubtless of high scientific value, were out of proportion to 

 their practical utility in adjudging the general conditions of the 

 soils under investigation. All this was changed by the genius of 

 Remy, who elaborated a process by which certain chemical 

 effects of the soil under analysis were ascertained, and from the 

 results obtained direct conclusions of their bacterial activity were 

 drawn. 



Thus, to ascertain the power of decomposition possessed by 

 any soil, Remy mixed a known quantity thereof, in solution, with 

 a known quantity of a i'5 % solution of peptone. Keeping this 

 mixture at a constant temperature, the amount of ammoniacal 

 nitrogen separated in the same time limit gave the comparative 

 activity, in this direction, of the bacteria in various soils. 



This is, on the face of it, a very simple, rapid, cheap, and at 

 the same time accurate process, a fact which has been proved 

 by numerous experiments made not merely by Remy himself, 

 but by many other eminent scientists. 



The earlier elaborate researches gave, or pretended to give, 

 the number and species of bacteria contained in a soil ; whereas 

 Remy's process deals only with the direct practical results of 

 their work. The activity of the soil as regards fermentation, its 

 power to form saltpetre, to bind or liberate nitrogen, can all 

 be gauged by the same method, different reagents being used to 

 suit each case. 



It was evident to Albert that a process by which the 



^ Die Heideauffor stung (1904), and Die Nord West Deutsche Heide in 

 forstlicher Beziehttttg {i()0'j). J. Springer, Berlin. 



