cut wheat at an earlier stage than is usual, whereby certain 

 mechanical losses by shedding, birds, &c, might be avoided, though 

 it is not certain that a fresh difficulty might not be introduced if an 

 increased time were required to bring the cut corn into a fit condition 

 for stacking. 



" The amount of free Lime and the composition of the 

 soluble Phosphates in Basic Slag" by C. G. T. Morison. In 

 this paper the author reports an examination of the amount of free 

 lime contained in basic slag. He found, instead of the large 

 amount usually reported, only from 5*29 down to 1'28 per cent, in 

 the freshly ground samples he examined. After trying various 

 methods for the estimation of the free lime, the author obtained the 

 best results by extracting the finely ground slag with cold water free 

 from carbon dioxide, and titrating the extract. Probably the basic 

 slag made in the earlier years of the industry contained a greater 

 proportion of free lime, just as it was generally less rich in 

 phosphoric acid. 



Morison also discusses the nature of the phosphoric acid 

 compound in basic slag, and from analyses of the crystals obtained 

 from unground cinder, and from the solubility of the slag and of 

 these crystals in weak solvents, he concludes the compound is 

 (Ca0 5 ), FeO, P2O5, SiO?, instead of the (Ca0 4 ), ^2°5 usuall Y 

 described. This agrees with some previously published analyses of 

 Stead, who also failed to find crystals of tetra-basic phosphate of 

 lime in most of the slags he examined. The compound in question 

 forms pale green or blue needle-shaped crystals in the cinder. 



"Estimation of Calcium Carbonate in Soils," by F. S. Marr. 

 In this paper the author describes a re-examination of a process for 

 determining calcium carbonate, which was worked out in the 

 Rothamsted Laboratory by Mr. A. Amos. He shows that with 

 certain soils rich in organic matter, especially those of an acid 

 character, whenever strong acid is boiled with the soil, because some 

 of the organic matter splits up and yields carbon dioxide. The error 

 can be minimised by using hydrochloric acid of only 5 per cent, 

 strength and boiling under reduced pressure. Mr. Marr, the author 

 of this paper, was a Carnegie scholar of the University of Aberdeen, 

 and worked in the Rothamsted Laboratory from October, 1907, to 

 July, 1908. He left us to work at Breslau, under Dr. Th. Pfeiffer, 

 where he unhappily died, after a short illness, on May 13th, 1909. 



