635 



of the treatment the solutions were filtered off and the salts deter- 

 mined in aliquot portions." 



The tests with water showed that i)hosplioric acid, ammonia, and 

 potash were either absent or present in too small quantities to affect 

 the results. The aualj-ses are given of the various solutions used before 

 and after their action on the samples of soil, together with the percent- 

 age of salt removed from each solution by 100 grams of soil. The latter 

 were as follows : from sodium phosphate solution, 29.6 per cent; sodium 

 nitrate, none; potassium chloride, 2G.5 percent; potassium sulj)hate, 

 28 per cent; ammonium sulphate, 27.5 per cent. 



" It will also be noticed that the percentages of absorption are not 

 very different, and especially is this true of the potash and ammonia 

 salts, the phosphoric acid being somewhat higher. Whether this fact 

 is merely an accidental occurrence or is due to the law of combination 

 by equivalents" the authors are not prepared to say. Calculations are 

 made wl)ich indicate that the absorptive power of the soil (9 inches in 

 depth) would enable it to take up 45 times as much phosphoric acid 

 and 27 times as much potash as is likely to be applied in a fertilizer, 

 and 32 times as much ammonia as would be furnished by a dressing of 

 one fourth ton of ammonium sulphate per acre. " Hence we may con- 

 clude that liberal dressings of phosphoric acid and potash may be used 

 without danger of serious loss ; that the phosphoric acid and potash 

 not used by any crop will be retained by the soil and be available for 

 following crops." 



In view of the fact that ammonia salts are likely to change to nitrates 

 in the soil "it is not always advisable to use ammonia salts in any great 

 excess, since the nitrates formed from this are liable to be lost." 



Indiana Station, Bulletin No. 34, February, 1891 (pp. 28). 



Sugar-beets, H. A. Huston, M. A. (pp. 55-65).— Brief suggestions 

 regarding the culture of sugar-beets, and notes and tabulated data on 

 experiments in several localities in Indiana, including the results of 

 analyses of beets from Indiana by the Division of Chemistry of this 

 Department. The tests thus far made in Indiana are sufficiently prom- 

 ising to warrant further experiments in this line, especially in the 

 northern part of the State. 



Field experiments with fertilizers on barley and oats, W. 

 C. Latta, M. S. (pp. 66-71).—" The growing season of 1890 was, as a 

 whole, unfavorable to spring grown cereals. * * * It is probable, 

 therefore, that the full effect of the fertilizers was not realized upon 

 either crop." 



Barley. — This experiment was made on 7 twentieth-acre plats. The 

 fertilizers used were a mixture at the rate per acre of 140 pounds dis- 

 solved bone-black, 62.5 ])ouuds muriate of potash, and 235 pounds sul- 

 phate 0/ ammonia, and oue containing two thirds these amounts; 1,000 



