168 THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE [Vo i. xxi. no. 251. 



Machida, S., On the influence of calcium and magnes- 

 ium salts on certain bacterial actions. (The Bulletin of 

 the Imperial Central Agricultural Experiment Station, Japan. 

 Vol. I. No. 1. Dec. 1905, p. 1.-12). 

 The author studied the influence of calcium and magnesium 

 salts on the activity of the microbes causing putrefaction and 

 nitrification. The principal results obtained are as follows : 



1. Calcium salts retard putrefaction, while magnesium salts 

 favor it. 



2. Tricalcium phospate was found to be utilized by some 

 putrefying bacteria. It is therefore probable that, in the soil, 

 insoluble phosphates may be transformed into an available form 

 by the action of microbes. 



3. Magnesium carbonate favors nitrification much more 

 than calcium carbonate, of which practical use might be made 

 in certain cases. 



K. MlYAKE. 



Uchiyama, S., On the stimulating action of potassium 



iodide upon sesamum and spinach. (The Bulletin of 



the Imperial Central Agricultural Experiment Station, Japan. 



Vol. I. No. 1. Dec. 1905, p. 35-37). 



Potassium iodide, when given in small doses, exerts a 



stimulating action upon sesamum and spinach. This fact is so 



far of practical importance, as our farmers on the sea-coast are 



used to employ as manure sea- weeds which contain more or 



less potassium iodide. 



K. MlYAKE. 



