318 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



methods of application best suited to the crops, the value of artificial fertilizers 

 as a supplement to sewage, methods and implements of culture especially 

 adapted to sewage farmings and the fertilizing value of sludge and sludge ash. 



It has been found among other things that corn, alfalfa, and forage plants 

 are especially adapted to sewage farming ; that oats and rye grown with sewage 

 have a high value as forage, but that the rye is not well suited to brewing; 

 that commercial fertilizers are not as a rule profitable as a supplement to the 

 sewage, although the use of lime improves the physical condition of the soil 

 and accelerates nitrification; that heavy applications of sludge in pot experi- 

 ments did no gi-eat injury to the plants; and that sludge ash did not show 

 any great fertilizing value. 



" The investigations into the purification of sewage by double irrigation and 

 fishponds have demonstrated the undoubted value of these 2 methods, which 

 bring about at the same time a further utilization of the foodstuffs still left 

 in the eflluent, and an important economic use of the water." 



The success of these farms is ascribed mainly to good management but also 

 to the facts that large areas of suitable light land with good drainage are 

 available and storm waters are not handled. 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 



Philippine soils and some of the factors whicli influence them, A. J. Cox 

 (Philippine Jour. Sci., A. Chem. and Gcol. Sci., 6 (1911), No. If, pp. 279-330, pis. 

 11, figs. 10). — The results of mechanical and chemical analyses of a large number 

 of samples of soil from different parts of the Philippine Islands are reported. 



The analyses indicated a high state of fertility of the soils, excluding certain 

 samples of soils of known low fertility. Physical determinations indicated 

 that disintegration of the floccules was not accomplished by passing the soil 

 under water through a sieve (Schone method), but that it was satisfactorily ac- 

 complished " by shaking the samples for 6 hours in 250 cc. bottles together 

 with about 75 cc. of distilled water to which 10 di'ops of ammonia had been 

 added." Drying the soil at 110° C. modified its mechanical composition, there 

 being a tendency to form hard aggregates which did not disintegi-ate. This 

 tendency was greatest for soils containing the highest percentages of clay. 



The article includes a compilation of climatological data and statistics of crop 

 production for the islands. It is shown that there are two definite and dis- 

 tinct types of rainfall in the Philippines, the western half of the archipelago 

 having a fairly well defined wet and dry season, and the eastern half a rainfall 

 quite equitably distributed throughout the year. 



The soils of Poland, T. von Trzcinski (Errmhr. Pflanse, 7 {1911), No. 23, 

 pp. 262-264). — This article is based on the work of S. Miklaszewski, and dis- 

 cusses the physical and chemical composition and agricultural value of repre- 

 sentative soil types of Russian Poland. 



Some typical Auckland soils, B. C. Aston (Jour. New Zeal. Dept. Agr., 

 S {1911), No. Ii, pp. SOJf-SlO). — The results of mechanical and chemical analyses 

 of samples of 7 different soil types of the region are reported, together with a 

 brief discussion under each type as to methods of improving the soil. 



Alkali soils from the knee of the Niger River, A. Hubert {Bui. 8oc. Chim. 

 Prance, 4. ser., 9 (1911), No. 16-17, pp. 8^2, 843; al)s. in Chem. Zenthh, 1911, II, 

 No. 17, p. 1369). — Analysis of a sample of alkali soil from this region showed 

 chlorin 4.05, sulphuric acid 5.26, silicic acid 71, lime 2.24, magnesia 2.5, soda 

 7.98, total nitrogen 0.042, and nitric acid 0.007 per cent, and traces of potash 

 and carbon dioxid. No phosphoric acid was found. The soil is impregnated 



