to partial mechanical separation, and portions of the sifted soil have 

 been carefully prepared and preserved for analysis. In a large proportion 

 of the samples the loss on drying at different temperatures, and at igni- 

 tion, has been determined. In most, the nitrogen determinable by burn- 

 ing with soda-lime has been estimated. In many, the carbon, and in some 

 the nitrogen, as nitric acid, and the chlorine, have been determined. 



Almost from the commencement of the experiments the rain-fall has 

 been measured ; for more than thirty years in a gauge of one-thousandth 

 of an acre area, as well as in an ordinary small funnel-gauge of five 

 inches diameter. From time to time the nitrogen as ammonia (and 

 sometimes as nitric acid) has been determined in the rain-waters, also 

 chlorine in many samples. 



Three drain-gauges, for the determination of the quantity and compo- 

 sition of the water percolating, respectively through twenty inches, forty 

 inches, and sixty inches depth of soil (with its subsoil in natural state of 

 consolidation), have also been constructed. Each of the differently 

 manured plots of the permanent experimental wheat-field having a 

 separate pipe-drain, the drainage waters have been, and are frequently, 

 connected and analyzed. 



For several years in succession experiments were made to determine 

 the amount of water given off by plants during their growth. In this 

 way various plants, including representatives of the gramineous, the 

 leguminous, and other families, have been experimented upon ; also ever- 

 green and deciduous trees. 



Experiments upon the feeding of animals were commenced in 1847, 

 and have been continued at intervals up to the present time. The 

 following points have been investigated : 



1. The amount of food, and its several constituents, consumed in re- 

 lation to a given live-weight of animal within a given time. 



2. The amount of food, and of its several constituents, consumed to 

 produce a given amount of increase in live-weight. 



3. The proportion, and relative development, of the different organs 

 or parts of different animals. 



4. The proximate and ultimate composition of the animals, in different 

 conditions as to age and fatness, and the probable composition of their 

 increase in live-weight during the fattening process. 



5. The composition of the solid and liquid excreta (the manure) in 

 relation to that of the food consumed. 



6. The loss or expenditure of constituents by respiration and the cuta- 

 neous exhalations that is, in the mere sustenance of the living meat- 

 and-manure-making machine. 



Several hundred animals oxen, sheep, and pigs have been sub- 

 mitted to experiment. The amount, and the relative development, of 

 the different organs and parts were determined in two calves, two heifers, 

 fourteen bullocks, one lamb, two hundred and forty-nine sheep, and 

 fifty-nine pigs. The percentages of water, mineral matter, fat, and nitrog- 

 enous substances were determined in certain separated parts, and in 



