AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE 



without the aid of iron " (Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica, vol. xix. p. 52). 



Yet there are many soils quite wanting in 

 iron, and in the history of agriculture you never 

 read of manuring with iron, excepting possibly 

 in the case of some experimental plots, although 

 some iron has been used of late years in the form 

 of basic slag, which contains about 18% of iron, 

 with beneficial results, as proved by experiments 

 carried out by Dr. Somerville, especially in 

 the case of stock grazing on pastures so 

 manured. 



Unfortunately, much vegetation is deficient 

 in iron, and consequently chlorotic, and it 

 would seem simpler instead of washing with 

 sulphate of iron, as is now occasionally done, 

 to have recourse to manuring the ground with 

 iron, when the plant would in due course take 

 up all it required for healthy growth. 



The importance of this question of chloro- 

 phyll is so great that it may be as well to state 

 once more the facts of the case. 



Chlorophyll is never formed in the absence 

 of iron. Only those cells in the plant that 

 contain chlorophyll are capable of absorbing 



