Annual  Report  of  the  Consulting  Chemist  for  1882.  237 
The  soil  readily  yielded  to  cold  water  \ per  cent,  of  soluble  saline 
mineral  matters,  consisting  of  carbonate  of  soda  and  potash, 
chloride  of  sodium  and  nitrate  of  potash. 
Besides  soluble  mineral  matter,  this  soil  contained  f per  cent, 
of  organic  matter,  soluble  in  water,  which  gave  a brownish 
colour  to  its  watery  extract.  No  doubt  the  free  alkalies  or 
alkaline  carbonates  act  upon  the  organic  matter,  and  produce 
alkaline  humates  or  ulmates,  which  have  a brown  colour,  and 
are  soluble  in  water. 
The  proportion  of  phosphoric  acid  in  the  soil  is  fully  equal 
to  the  average  proportion  in  good  soils  ; and  the  soil  contains 
abundance  of  carbonate  of  lime  and,  in  fact,  of  all  elements  of 
plant-food  to  meet  the  requirements  of  cultivated  crops.  Its 
sterility  thus  is  not  due  to  deficiency  of  plant-food  or  to  the 
presence  of  a constituent  inimical  to  vegetation,  but  to  the 
excess  of  soluble  saline  constituents,  some  of  which,  in  a highly 
dilute  condition,  are  valuable  fertilisers.  There  is  rno  other 
plan  of  reclaiming  such  sterile  soils  than  to  inundate  them 
periodically  with  fresh  water,  and  gradually  to  wash  out  by  this 
means  the  excess  of  soluble  saline  matter.  Unfortunately,  in 
places  where  soils  similar  in  character  to  this  Californian  soil 
occur,  a good  supply  of  fresh  water  cannot  be  obtained,  or  the 
position  of  the  land  does  not  permit  of  its  being  irrigated  and 
thoroughly  well-drained. 
Ensilage. — Mr.  Gibson,  of  Saffron-Walden,  recently  sent  me 
a sample  of  green  rye,  which  had  been  preserved  successfully 
by  him  in  silos.  It  had  the  following  composition  : — 
Moisture 72-50 
Lactic  acid  • 80 
* Albuminous  compounds 1 • 99 
Mucilage,  extractive  matter,  &c 12  • 86 
Woody  fibre  (cellulose) 9 -72 
Mineral  matter  (ash)  2 -13 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen -31 
Cattle  and  sheep  greedily  eat  the  green  food  preserved  by 
ensilage,  and,  judging  from  all  accounts,  appear  to  do  well  on 
it.  Milch  cows,  more  especially,  seem  to  like  ensilaged  green 
food,  and  to  produce  abundance  of  milk. 
The  sample  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Gibson  was  well  made  and 
free  from  all  mouldiness,  which  is  apt  to  make  its  appearance 
in  badly  preserved  green  food. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  sample  of  ensilaged  rye  contained 
72J  per  cent,  of  moisture  and  27^  per  cent,  of  dry  matter. 
In  all  other  specimens  that  have  been  sent  to  me  at  various 
