SOIL AND ITS PRODUCTIVENESS. 947 
Gleditschia 
Prosopis triaeanthos 
Pode Pods 
(seeds removed), 
(Cane sugar ... “at Aint wwe» 208 21:0 
Soluble | Fruit sugar .., ae 56 
in 4 Other organic bodies. (pectin, &e. ee 11°9 16:0 
Water. | Free acid, as malic acid O-4 05 
| Ash 1:0 31 
Insoluble ) Fibre, &e 33:1 35:2 
Wiatier Ash . 2:2 trace 
Moisture ‘ 174 18°6 
100-0 100°0 
Nitrogen fan nee ove vow | DB 1:08 
Equal to protein... a art EOS 6°75 
In both cases the fruit sugar consists of about equal proportions 
of dextrose and levulose. yi fairly large sample of the Prosopis 
pods being available, the chemical identification of the cane sugar 
was further confirmed by separating and crystallising it, the sugar 
so prepared being now exhibited. 
My thanks are due to Mr. R. T. Baker, F.L.S., for working 
out the identity of the Mesquit pods; to Dr. J. H. Reed and Mr. 
Ralph Pearson for samples of the pods; and to Mr. C. B. Brownrigg 
for the Gleditschia pods. 
No. 15.—NOTE ON THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN 
THE RESULTS OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS 
OF A SOIL AND ITS PRODUCTIVENESS. 
By A. N. Pearson, Chemist to the Department of 
Agriculture, Victoria. 
(Read Tuesday, 11 January, 1898.) 
ELABORATE descriptions of methods of soil analysis may be met 
with in various works on agricultural analysis ; but those essential 
facts which bear upon the subject of the correspondence between 
the results of analysis and of practical cultivation are very rarely 
published. 
When I commenced agricultural work in this country, it was 
my intention to carry out an extensive series of experiments with 
a view of gaining some definite facts on this subject, and a series 
