Live Stock. 



228 



[September, 1910. 



country I believe, and the measures pro- 

 posed, if agreed to by Government, will 

 be on the following lines:— 



I. Power will be taken to destroy 

 without compensation any horse, ass, or 

 mule imported showing definite signs of 

 osteoporosis. 



II. Every person having in his pos- 

 session or under his charge any diseased 

 or suspected animal mu«t report it, 



III. Any horse, ass, or mule declared 

 infected shall not be kept or exposed 

 in any public stable, and if an affected 

 animal is kept for work a separate stable 

 shall be provided, isolated from other 

 stables. 



IV. Advanced cases shall be destroyed 

 and carcase disposed of in the manner 

 directed. 



V. A stable in which a diseased ani- 

 mal has been kept must be thoroughly 

 cleaned and disinfected in the manner 

 to be provided. Special attention given 

 to the floor, which, if earth, will be re- 

 moved entirely ; and cement or other 

 floor to be disinfected as directed. 



At the close of the lecture, Mr. Sturgess 

 was cordially thanked by his audience. 



[An Extract kindly forwarded by Mr. 

 A. Bruce, B SC, of the Analytical Labor- 

 atory, having reference to the influence 

 of calcium salts in the drinking water.] 



(From the Journal of the Chemical 

 Society of May, 1910.) 



The Influence of the Salts in 

 Drinking Water on Physical De- 

 velopment.— Ragnar Berg (and, in part, 

 Carl Rose) (Biochem.Zeitsch., 1910, 24, 

 282-303). 



The author summarises and amplifies 

 the observations of Rose, which tend to 

 show that the harder the drinking water 

 of a district, the better the physical 

 development of the children. The con- 

 clusions are drawn chiefly from examina- 

 tion of the teeth of children from differ- 

 ent districts of which the hardness of 

 the water is known, and by comparing 

 the number of recruits capable or mili- 

 tary service from similar districts. De- 

 tailed examination has also been made 

 of the composition of the saliva under 

 the influence of drinking water of vary- 

 ing hardnesses, and of diets containing 

 varying quantities of calcium. The 

 amount of saliva excreted increases 

 with the hardness of the drinking water, 

 and in neighbourhoods with hard drink- 

 ing water, the children secrete a saliva 

 which is both relatively and absolutely 

 more alkaline than that secreted by 

 children reared in neighbourhoods with 

 soft drinking water. Detailed analyses 

 of the bases and acids of the saliva 

 indicate this increased alkalinity. A 

 preliminary summ iry is also given of 

 the influence of calcium salts on the 

 quantity and character of other secre- 

 tions.— S. B. S. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE, 



LIME IN AGRICULTURE. 



The value of lime as an ameliorating 

 agent in land has been demonstrated by 

 evidence which has come to hand within 

 the past few weeks. Its properties 

 assume different forms under different 

 conditions. It may directly affect the 

 fertility of the laud, as was seen so 

 clearly on the occasion of the recent visit 

 of the members of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society to Woburn, or, as shown in the 

 report upon the experiments at the 

 Cockle Park station in Northumberland, 

 its beneficent influences may be exercised 

 in combating disease. The liming of 

 agricultural land undoubtedly is an oper- 

 ation that requires to be carried out with 

 discretion, for the old adage as to exces- 

 sive liming making " both farm and 

 farmer poor" is true now as it was in 

 former generations, but in judicious 



quantities lime exerts an influence that 

 is entirely advantageous. At Woburn 

 as well as at Rothamsted its health- 

 giving qualities have been revealed 

 through its action upon the soil, and at 

 Cockle Park its properties in checking 

 finger-and-toe disease in turnips have 

 been demonstrated with equal emphasis. 



Lime has fallen into disuse as a top 

 dressing for land since artificial fertilizers 

 have so largely superseded or supple- 

 mented farmyard manure. The exag- 

 gerated estimate of the qualities of con- 

 centrated manures gave rise to the 

 belief that lime, chalk, marl, and such- 

 like materials could be dispensed with ; 

 experience has proved the fallacy of this 

 belief, at all events as regards lime or 

 chalk in soils deficient in calcareous sub- 

 stances. Basic slag is a partial substi- 

 tute for lime, but the experimental 

 stations, and especially Rothamsted and 



