120 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



vicinity for a period of r» years in consideration of its immediate" removal from 

 the plant at the time of cleaning the slnd^re beds. 



The material lias been very couvenieutly and elliciently handled i)y means of 

 manure spreaders. It has been used as a fertilizer on corn, potatoes, millet, and 

 other grasses with very good results. With corn it appeai-s to give good results 

 when used alone. With other crops better results are obtained when potash 

 and phosphoric acid are added. 



While the composition of the material varies with the season, the moisture 

 ranging from !"> to .50 per cent, an average of several analyses shows moisture 

 16.22, jihosphoric acid 0.78, potassium oxid OSA, nitrogen 1.4.5, calcium oxid 0.3. 

 and insoluble matter, sand, etc., 70.13 per cent. 



The conditions and object of agricultural hydrotechnical work in Bussia, 

 J. JiLiNSKY (Conditions ct But des Travaux IJydrotechniques Agricoles en 

 Russie. St. Pctershurg: Govt., WOS, pp. 22).— A brief general statement. 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS . 



Report of the soil chemist and bacteriologist, J. G. Lipman et al. (New 

 Jersey Stas. Rpt. I'JOS, pp. Si-i-J?).— This report contains accounts of investiga- 

 tions on ammonia formation in soils and culture solutions ; moisture conditions 

 as affecting the formation of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates ; soil bacteriological 

 methods and culture media ; behavior of Azotobacter in culture solutions ; and 

 soil inoculations with A. beycrincki. 



The studies of ammonia formation in shale and sandy loam soils and in 

 culture media of different kinds showed among other things that the addition 

 of dextrose as a rule retarded the formation of ammonia or hastened its trans- 

 formation into other forms of combination. The addition of peptone, on the 

 other hand, hastened the formation of ammonia. With peptone alone there 

 was decidedly more rapid formation of ammonia in the shale soil than in the 

 sandy loam soil. The addition of dextrose alone apparently did not cause a 

 very great increase in the number of bacteria in the soil, whereas the addition 

 of peptone alone caused an enormous increase. When dextrose was used with 

 the peptone the increase was checked to an appreciable extent. The addition 

 of starch and filter paper did not exert the same depressing effect as the 

 dextrose. 



In experiments with a gravelly loam soil it was found that saturation of the 

 soil with water greatly increased the rate of ammonification. 



From the results in general " it would seem . . . that the suppression of the 

 aerobic decay bacteria and the more vigorous growth of the anaerobic putre- 

 factive bacteria lead to the production of more ammonia in the peptone solu- 

 tions. . . . The amounts of ammonia produced in the soil itself are a function 

 of the bacteriological activities and soil conditions, in this particular instance 

 largely moisture and aeration conditions. . . . Varying moisture conditions favor 

 the production of more or less ammonia as they fa\or or depress the activities 

 of the ammonifying bacteria. At the same time, they probably produce changes 

 in the bacterial flora which are not merely quantitative, but at times also 

 qualitative." 



Saturation of the soil api>arently increased the activity of urea bacteria as 

 well as putrefactive bacteria. 



The studies of the effect of the addition of dextrose with varying amounts of 

 moisture on ammonification gave inconclusive results. 



A decided decrease in nitrates, i)articularly in certain soil samples, was 

 observed which is attributed to the transformation of nitrate into proteid 

 nitrogen. 



