236  Annual  Report  of  the  Consulting  Chemist  for  1882. 
the  greater  part  accompanied  by  lengthy  reports  on  the  best 
means  of  improving  the  productive  powers  of  land,  the  reclama- 
tion of  waste  lands,  the  laying  down  to  permanent  pastures,  the 
application  of  appropriate  manures,  the  course  of  cropping  to 
be  pursued  on  different  soils,  were  made  during  the  last  twelve 
months ; whereas,  some  five  years  ago,  such  reports  were  but 
rarely  requested  from  the  Consulting  Chemist  of  the  Society. 
As  usual,  a number  of  samples  of  inferior  artificial  manures, 
which  had  been  sold  at  high  prices  in  comparison  with  their 
intrinsic  money  value,  or  under  wrong  or  misleading  names,  as 
well  as  of  adulterated  oilcakes,  were  received  for  analysis ; 
but,  as  the  most  flagrant  cases  have  already  appeared  in  the 
Quarterly  Reports  of  the  Chemical  Committee,  no  further  refer- 
ence need  be  made  in  the  present  Report  to  those  cases,  or  to 
apparently  unfair  dealings  in  artificial  manures  and  feeding-stuffs. 
Instead  of  dwelling  further  on  this  subject,  to  which  reference 
is  made  in  almost  all  my  Annual  Reports,  I would  direct  atten- 
tion to  some  analyses  which  have  been  made  during  the  last 
twelve  months,  and  which  embody  information  that  may  be  of 
more  general  interest  than  the  majority  of  reports,  which,  how- 
ever useful  to  individual  applicants,  are  of  no  special  interest  to 
the  agricultural  public  at  large. 
Sterile  Soil. — A soil  from  California  upon  which  hardly  any- 
thing grows,  when  tested  with  reddened  litmus-paper  showed 
a decidedly  alkaline  reaction,  and  the  qualitative  analysis 
revealed  the  presence  of  more  nitric  acid  and  chloride  of 
sodium  than  is  generally  found  in  arable  land.  Submitted  to  a 
complete  analysis,  the  following  results  were  obtained  : — 
Composition  of  a Californian  Alkaline  Soil. 
* Soluble  organic  matter  . 
‘insoluble  organic  matter 
< >xide  of  iron 
Alumina 
Carbonate  of  lime  .. 
Magnesia 
f Nitrate  of  potash 
JChloride  of  sodium  . . 
Potash  
Soda 
Sulphuric  acid 
Phosphoric  acid 
Insoluble  silicious  matter 
• to 
2-44 
4-48 
4-54 
2-58 
1-50 
•17 
•04 
•81 
•58 
traces 
•19 
81-92 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen *09 
Equal  to  ammonia  'll 
t Containing  nitric  acid  '09 
I Containing  chlorine ’02 
Mincinl  matter  soluble  in  water  ..  49 
