128 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We founded eleven years ago a society for the protection of 

 wild plants, in order to prevent the danger of extermination 

 which I have been speaking of, and the society now numbers 

 more than 700 members, of whom fully 200 are in England. We 

 also founded a garden at Geneva for the rearing of Alpine plants 

 from seed, the " Jardin d'Acclimatation " ; and we have since 

 founded in the high Alps of Valais, two hours below the Hospice 

 of the Great St. Bernard, and near the village of Bourg S. Pierre, 

 and close by the mule-path which goes over the pass into Italy, 

 another botanic garden for the protection and perpetuation of 

 such plants as are threatened with extinction. This garden, 

 " The Linnea," is well situated, and the plants which we cultivate 

 there are most healthy, and will well repay a visit from anyone 

 passing that way. 



CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE 

 SOIL WITHOUT THE AID OF CHEMISTRY. 



By Professor F. Cheshire, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 



[Read May 9, 1893.] 



I propose to endeavour to popularise a matter which has 

 been regarded as solely the concern of the chemist, and beyond 

 the reach of the horticulturist, and I shall have to ask your 

 forbearance in using the chemist's shorthand, as time will permit 

 of no other. 



Every gardener stands at a disadvantage when he takes a 

 piece of new ground, previously unknown, and under these 

 circumstances he will possibly for a long time labour with only 

 a small measure of success. By degrees, however, he becomes 

 acquainted with its special peculiarities, and higher fertility 

 rewards his efforts. Yet, even to make this amount of painful 

 progress, keenness and attention are required. To-day I desire 

 to point cut how to bridge over this time of difficulty, and secure 

 by a few simple gardening experiments even more information 

 than the analyst would commonly provide. 



