EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 293 



Project No. 1, ontlmed in last year's report, is being continued. 

 Studies of representative soils of Wexford, Allegan, and Ingham coun- 

 ties have been completed and reports covering these will be presented at 

 an early date. Cooperative lime and fertilizer studies are being con- 

 ducted with a few farmers of Ingliam county. It is well to note that 

 some very striking results are being obtained in certain cases. We re- 

 cently took samples from, and made observations in, St. Joseph, Cass, 

 and Manistee counties, and plan to do so for certain other counties. We 

 propose to pursue this work vigorously, inasmuch as we consider it a 

 very important and far reaching line of investigation. 



The Lysimeter studies, also noted in last year's report, are under way 

 and certain important data have been obtained, esjjecially from those 

 filled with sandy soil. With this particular soil low in vegetable matter 

 and this season's rainfall, the addition of lime alone, or complete fertil- 

 izer, or inorganic nitrogen, have shown negative results with oats and 

 clover. On the other hand, unusually good returns have been received 

 from the use of green manure, even in the absence of either lime or com- 

 plete fertilizer. These results suggest among others that there is very 

 little benefit to be derived from the use of inorganic nitrogen during a 

 season of high rainfall on sandy soils low in vegetable matter. This 

 being a very important economic question, field plots on the same soil 

 have recently been installed to throw additional light upon it. 



As outlined in detail in your office, elaborate green manure and lime 

 experiments are being conducted on the Woodbury Farm. Such ques- 

 tions as the cost of nitrogen in green manures, and the duration of green 

 manuring crops, as well as effects upon the chemico-physico-biological 

 properties of the soil are being studied. 



Very interesting and especially fundamental results are being ob- 

 tained from studies of the effect of the presence of different amounts of 

 water, of the addition of green manure and fertilizers, upon the concen- 

 tration of the soil solution and the sap of roots and tops of different 

 plants. The results of these studies will be presented in due time for 

 publication. 



The projects being conducted under the Adams fund have been suc- 

 cessfully carried on during the year. The nature of the work has been 

 entirely changed and may be divided under two main headings: (1) 

 Soil Temperature, (2) The Freezing Point of Soils. A part of the re- 

 port presented to me by Dr. Bouyoucos appears below: 



"The results of the second main project appear to be especially of 

 great importance and high interest, both from the practical and theoret- 

 ical standpoint. These results have opened up an entirely new line of 

 research and have thrown new light upon the behavior and properties of 

 soils. The freezing point method, as has now been developed, appears to 

 be the best means of studying certain phases of the soils, as it attacks 

 the problems directly, and the results it attains are fundamental. 



Four different technical bulletins and two short articles have been is- 

 sued during the year upon the two projects. The titles of the bulletins 

 are as follows: (1) Effect of Temperature Upon Some of the Most Im- 

 portant Physical Processes in the Soil, (2) The Freezing Point Method 

 as a New Means of Measuring the Concentration of the Soil Solution Di- 

 rectly in the Soil, (3) Soil Temperature, and (4) The Freezing Point 



