804 Annual Report for 1893 of the Consulting Chemist. 
field and other experiments on Ins own account. This gentleman, 
Mr. James Mason, of Eynsham Hall, Witney, Oxon, is engaged in 
putting into actual practice the latest discoveries of agricultural 
science, more especially in reference to the question of the utilisation 
by leguminous plants of the nitrogen derived from the atmosphere, 1 
and considerable interest attaches to the pursuit of his inquiries, 
following, as they do, in a practical way, the more strictly scientific 
work of Lawes and Gilbert in this country. 
Mr. Mason is endeavouring to ascertain to what extent the soil 
is enriched by the growth of leguminous crops, and, by analysis of 
the soil, of the crops removed, and of the drainage water that flows 
away, he is setting out a debtor and creditor account for his land in 
respect of the nitrogen accumulated or removed from the soil. 
Investigations have also been pursued in the laboratory with refer- 
ence to the use and composition of preservative mixtures for milk 
and cream, into the means of marking foreign meat, the composition 
and nature of certain Australian wheat soils, and of soils affected 
with “ finger and toe.” 
As regards the ordinary samples sent for analysis, there is a 
falling off in feeding stuffs, an increase in manures generally, and a 
very considerable increase in the number of waters, no less than 
228 of these having been examined. Without doubt the exceptional 
and prolonged dry season experienced this year was in great measure 
the cause of this latter increase, producing, as it did, a shortness of 
water-supply in many parts, and the utilisation of fresh sources or 
of those of doubtful purity. In a large number of cases the necessity 
for care in this respect was clearly proved, as many of the samples 
submitted showed manifest signs of pollution having taken place. 
The Quarterly Reports issued by the Chemical Committee have, 
as usual, brought to light many cases of adulteration and misrepre- 
sentation, and have proved of much benefit to farmers in apprising 
them of the principal, and especially of new, forms of adulteration 
practised. 
The passing of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, following 
on the report of the Departmental Committee on this subject, has 
been one of the most prominent features of the year, and, if pro- 
perly carried out, it is almost sure to be of considerable value to the 
farming community. It is not too much to say that the continued 
efforts of the Royal Agricultural Society to afford security for their 
Members when purchasing manures and feeding stuffs, as well as the 
prominence which they have given by their Quarterly Reports to 
cases of adulteration brought under their notice, have to no small 
degree contributed to the framing of the new Act, and to the pro- 
viding of remedies by legislation in cases of fraud and misrepre- 
sentation. One of the chief advantages that a farmer will gain by 
this legislation is, that it will henceforth be incumbent on every 
vendor of a manure or feeding stuff to give the purchaser an invoice, 
1 See Field Experiments on the Fixation of Free Nitrogen. By James 
Mason. Journal, 3rd series, Vol. III., 1892, pp. 651-657. 
