The  Production  of  Plant  Food  in  the  Soil.  9 
hia  Majesty  would  not  refuse  the  urgent  solicitations  of  some 
members  of  the  Council  to  favour  the  Society  once  more  with 
his  active  Patronage  on  this  occasion,  and  at  a Council 
meeting,  the  President  (Sir  Gilbert  Greenall)  was  able  to 
announce  that  the  King  had  graciously  given  his  consent  to 
be  nominated  as  President  for  the  year  1911. 
ri  An  Almighty  Providence  having  ruled  that  death  was  to 
frustrate  the  hopes  of  both  King  and  People,  it  only  remains 
to  remember  with  gratitude  that  up  to  the  very  last  the  late 
beloved  Monarch  was  ready  and  anxious  to  do  all  that  lay 
within  his  power  to  advance  the  great  industry  which  he 
so  often  patronised  and  assisted  by  his  kindly  efforts  to 
forward  the  work  of  his  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England. 
K.  J.  J.  Mackenzie, 
. Cambridge,  Editor. 
December,  1910. 
Note. — The  frontispiece  to  this  volume  appears  by 
permission  of  Arthur  Cadbury- Jones,  Ltd.,  22-24  Glasshouse 
Street,  London,  W.,  the  owners  of  the  copyright  and  the 
publishers  of  the  engraving. 
Thos.  McRow, 
Secretary. 
THE  PRODUCTION  OF  PLANT  FOOD  IN 
THE  SOIL. 
By  Edward  J.  Russell,  D.Sc.  (Lond.), 
Goldsmith  Company's  Soil  Chemist , Rothamsted  Experiment 
Station. 
There  is  a time  in  the  history  of  a new  subject  when  it  may 
usefully  emerge  from  the  laboratory  and  be  placed  before  the 
practical  man,  not  because  it  is  yet  ripe  for  application  in 
practice,  but  in  order  that  it  may  be  tested  and  extended  by 
any  facts  or  observations  he  may  bring  forward.  In  return  the 
practical  man,  being  put  in  possession  of  recent  ideas,  has  his 
outlook  broadened  and  is  in  a better  position  for  working  out 
his  own  problems.  The  study  of  the  production  of  plant  food 
in  the  soil  has  reached  this  stage.  It  has  made  great  advances 
during  the  past  few  years,  and  has  recently  developed  in 
certain  new  directions. 
In  all  permanent  systems  of  cultivation  arrangements  are 
made  for  supplying  organic  matter  to  the  soil.  It  may  be 
given  as  dung,  by  sheeping,  or  by  ploughing  in  either  a 
green  crop  or  the  mass  of  roots  accumulating  in  a ley  of 
