Annual Report for 1908 of the Consulting Chemist. 305 
instances which have occurred of the sale of fair quality and 
of inferior ground lime : — 
A B 
Fair quality. Inferior. 
Oxide of iron 
and alumina 
3-60 
319 
Lime . 
. 85-76 
59-67 
Magnesia 
-931 
20-81 
Carbonic acid, 
&c. 
4-24/ 
Silica . 
5-47 
16-33 
100-00 100-00 
Nor must it be supposed that chalk, even when dug 
straight out of a pit, is necessarily a material that is suitable 
for burning or for using direct on land. It may sometimes 
be excessively siliceous, as the following analysis of chalk 
dug from a pit near Leighton Buzzard, shows : — 
Oxide of iron and alumina 
1-88 
Carbonate of lime .... 
44-25 
Sulphuric acid, &c. .... 
7-54 
Silica ...... 
46-33 
100-00 
C. Miscellaneous. 
1. Soil poor in Lime. 
A sample of soil was sent me from the Birmingham 
district, the sender complaining that patches of land over 
the extent of a field refused to grow any crop, although the 
land was well manured. Both wheat and mangold, though 
came up well, died away altogether. 
Analysis of this 
gave — 
(Soil dried at 212° F.) 
Organic matter. . . . ... 
5-21 
Oxide of iron and alumina 
4-95 
Lime ....... 
•10 
Phosphoric acid ..... 
•19 
Magnesia, alkalies, &c. .... 
•49 
Insoluble siliceous matter .... 
89-06 
' 
100-00 
The soil, it will be seen, was exceptionally poor in lime. 
I then suggested the sending to me of a sample of the soil 
from parts where a crop could be obtained, and, on analysing 
this, I found there to be : — 
Lime ....... -15 per cent. 
or somewhat more than in the barren portions. It is clear, 
however, that the whole land will, sooner or later, require 
a good dressing of lime. 
VOL. 69. 
X 
