182 SOIL SCIENCE [Bot. Absts. 



test the comparative value in different forms and amounts of commercial fertilizers upon 

 corn, oats, wheat, clover and pasture grasses on DeKalb soil for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the most economical means of reclaiming the abandoned farmland in the DeKalb area and 

 of increasing and maintaining the productivity of DeKalb soils now under cultivation. — 

 C. R. Orton. 



FERTILIZER RESOURCES 



1269. Ebaugh, W. C. America's advance in potash production. Bull. Sci. Lab. Denison 

 Univ. 19:33-47. 1919. — The total production of fertilizer potash in the United States has 

 increased from practically nothing in 1914 to 52,000 tons in 1918, thus reaching 22 per cent of 

 the pre-war consumption. — Natural brine lakes have furnished 75 per cent of this increase, 

 kelp reduction plants 8 per cent, molasses and distillery wastes 6 per cent, alunite deposits 

 of Utah 5 per cent, cement mill dust 2 per cent. — The total capacity of these potash plants for 

 1919 is 100,000 tons or 40 per cent of normal consumption. — Only the kelp reduction plants 

 closed down with the signing of the armistice. — Harris M. Benedict. 



1270. Hutchinson, C. M. Nitrogenous fertilizers, their use in India. Agric. Jour. 



India 14:203-214. 1919. India is in danger of depletion of the soil unless nitrogenous 



manures can be imported at a lower price, or better use can be made of indigenous supplies 



of nitrogen. A popular and practical discussion of the nitrogen question as related to India. 



— F, M. Schertz. 



BIOLOGY 



1271. Bristol, B. Muriel. On the retention of vitality by algae from old stored soils. 

 New Phytol. 18: 92-107. Fig. 1-2. 1919— See Bot. Absts. 3, Entry 694. 



1272. Hutchinson, C. M. Nitrogen fixation in Indian soils. Agric. Jour. India 14: 

 215-219. 1919. — The need of study on nitrogen fixation problems for India is urged. — F. M. 

 Schertz. 



1273. Pearson, G. A. [Rev. of: Hesselman, Henrik. Soil nitrofication in relation to 

 forest reproduction. Skogsvordsforeningens Tidskr., 1:1-104. 1918.] Jour. Forestry 17: 

 69-73. 1919.— See Bot. Absts. 3, Entry 564. 



1274. Temple, J. C. The value of ammonification tests. Georgia Agric. Sta. Bull. 126- 

 18 p. Jan., 1919. — Results obtained by studying the ammonifying efficiency, ammonifying 

 inoculating power and ammonifying capacity of a series of soils showed an unexplainable 

 disagreement. Further studies on another series of soils, ranging from a heavy clay subsoil 

 to rich, friable clay and dark alluvial soil showed that the ammonifying efficiency of a soil 

 is determined more by the physical or chemical character than by the biological. Experi- 

 ments in modifying the soils chemically showed that the addition of phosphate in any form 

 caused a large increase in the amount of the ammonia recovered; the largest amount being 

 from the sample with the Mono-basic salt; thus showing that the increase was not due to the 

 neutralization of acid; these results indicate that an abundant phosphorus supply might be 

 an important factor in ammonia production in soils. When opening the bottles of the samples 

 under test a distinct smell of ammonia was obtained; moistened red litmus paper was quickly 

 changed to blue in the bottles. To test the possible loss of ammonia in this way samples 

 were run in large bottles and in each was suspended a fluted filter paper moistened with 

 HiSO^. The amounts of ammonia recovered from the filter paper were, in two instances, 

 .4 per cent of the total recovered from the sample. In some experiments cotton seed meal, 

 casein and albumen were used as sources of nitrogen; the greater loss from the soil was found 

 where casein was used, the smaller loss from cotton-seed meal. Dissolved and powdered 

 casein and dried blood were used as sources of nitrogen. These results as well as other data 

 at the station show the small value of ammonification tests as an aid to solution of bacterial 

 problems. A bibliography is appended. — T. II . Mrllatton. 



