REPORT OF THE SOCIETY'S CONSULTING CHEMIST. 499 



this, however, the currant bushes had a very unhealthy appearance. I 

 made a complete analysis of the soil, and this gave the following 

 results : — 





Soil dried at 212° F. 



Organic matter and loss on heating . 



4-32 



Oxide of iron . 



334 



Alumina 



K . O A 

 O .14 



Lime 



•60 



Magnesia 



. 1-39 



Potash ...... 



01 



Soda 



•20 



Sulphuric acid . 



•07 



Phosphoric acid . . . . 



•23 



Insoluble silicates and sand 



. 84-10 





10000 



Nitrogen 



•183 



Taking these figures generally, there would not appear to be any one 

 constituent that was markedly deficient, except, possibly, the organic 

 (vegetable) matter and the nitrogen derived from this source. 



There was a very fair supply of potash ; in phosphoric acid the soil 

 was distinctly rich, while the amount of lime could not be said, in itself, 

 to be low. A remarkable point, however, brought out by the analysis 

 was that the amount of magnesia contained in the soil was more than 

 double that of the lime. This is a matter to which my attention has 

 been of late directed in a somewhat special way. Moreover, experiments 

 conducted by myself at the Woburn Experimental Farm have brought 

 Out very clearly the influence which magnesia may exert on the crops of 

 the farm. To briefly summarize the information gained on these points, 

 it would appear to be brought out that whenever the proportion of 

 magnesia in a soil exceeds the lime that is present, conditions un- 

 favourable to the successful growth of crops are produced. 



I am of opinion that to this may very well be attributed the failure 

 of the currant bushes in the present instance. 



The subject is still under investigation, but I certainly believe that 

 the best thing to do in such a case as that mentioned is to apply lime 

 liberally, for, while it is impossible to take the magnesia out of the soil, 

 it is possible to reduce its preponderance by the addition of lime. 



K K 2 



