720 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Chromium, vanadium, rare eartlis, zirconium, barium, strontium, lithium, 

 and rubidium were present in all the soils examined. Chromium ranged from 

 a trace to 0.025 per cent ; vanadium, from 0.01 per cent to 0.08 per cent ; rare 

 earths, from 0.01 per cent to 0.08 per cent; zirconium, from 0.003 per cent to 

 0.08 per cent ; barium, from 0.004 per cent to 0.36 per cent ; and strontium, 

 from 0.01 per cent to 0.11 per cent. Lithium was found in spectroscopic traces 

 only. Boron was indicated in 18 soils by the presence of tourmalin and fluorin 

 in 24 soils by the presence of micas. 



Molybdenum was found in the surface soils of ouly two types and cfesium iu 

 only one soil. Neither the amounts nor even the presence of copper, nickel, and 

 cobalt were established in the soils with certainty. 



Silica, manganese, and phosphorus were found to concentrate in the surface 

 soil, and aluminum, iron, potash, magnesium, and generally titanium, in the 

 .subsoil. 



The sulphur content was low, ranging from 0.3 to 0.39 per cent of SOs. with 

 an average of 0.13 per cent. 



An abundance of potash minerals was found in the soil, the amount varying 

 from 43 to 2,000 tons to the acre of soil to a depth of 3 feet. 



The evidence that soils contain the more important rock-forming minerals is 

 said to be strengthened by the mineralogical examinations. 



A colluvial soil and its people, F. V. Emerson (Bill. Amer. Gcogr. Soc, 46 

 {1914), No. 9, pp. 655-658, fig. 1). — An area in one of the Ozark counties of 

 Missouri is described which consists of an old limestone plateau where the soil 

 creep is said to cause accumulation of colluvial soils in a narrow belt near the 

 foot of slopes. The colluvial soils vary from a clay loam to a silt loam and 

 are said to be extremely important both because of their fertility and because 

 of the scarcity of arable lauds in the region. The possibility of increasing the 

 area of very fertile soil by terracing is pointed out. 



The occurrence of manganese in Kentucky soils and its possible signifi- 

 cance, O. ]M. Siii;dd (Jour. Indus, and Ennln. Chcm., 6 (1914), No. 8, pp. 660- 

 664)- — An examination of a large number of Kentucky soils showed that in a 

 large majority of the cases there was considerably less manganese in the culti- 

 vated soils than in corresponding virgin soils. In practically every case the 

 surface soil contained more manganese than the subsoil. The majority of the 

 soils contained considerably more manganese than phosphorus, but many sam- 

 ples contained much less, while the losses of manganese in the cultivated areas 

 were usually greater than of phosphorus. 



" There are large differences in the manganese content of the soils of the 

 different geological areas and sometimes in those from the same area. The 

 amounts found in the surface soils vary from 0.005 to 0.331 per cent, and in 

 the subsoils from 0.002 to 0.2G4 per cent. As a rule, the better agricultural 

 areas contain much larger amouuts of manganese than the inferior areas." 



Report of the state agricultural chemist, J. H. Phillips (Rpt. Dept. Agr. 

 So. Aust., 1912-13, pp. 27-30). — ^Among a number of miscellaneous analyses are 

 determinations of manganese iu various soil samples, and of copper, lead, and 

 arsenic in soil samples taken from under the drip area of fruit trees which 

 have been sprayed for a number of years with various insecticides. 



On osmosis in soils. The efficiency of the soil constituents as semiper- 

 meable membranes, C. J. Lynde and H. A. Dupr^ (Proc. and Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Canada, S. ser., 7 (1913), Sect. Ill, pp. 105-117, figs. ^).— The investigations here 

 reported have already been noted from another source (E. S. R.. 30, p. 23). 



On a new method of measuring the capillary lift of soils, C. J. Lynde and 

 H. A. Dri'Ri;; (Proc. and Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, 3. scr., 7 (1913), Sect. III. pp. 



