512 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



No. 9, p. 3S0). — Reference is rnnde to investigations by Wagner from which the 

 conclusion is drawn that drinking water with a very high degree of hardness 

 may be used without danger of injury to health. It is shown that many of the 

 more common foods contain lime corresponding to a much higher degree of 

 hardness than is often found in drinking water. 



The hygienic value of soft water (Sanit. Rec, Jf6 (1910), p. ^1/8; aJ)S. in 

 Wasser u. Ahwasser, 5 {1912), No. 9, pp. 380, 381). — In this article it is main- 

 tained that a high degree of hardness in water due to lime and inorganic sub- 

 stances is injurious to health, favoring goiter and rheumatism and hindering 

 digestion. 



Disinfection of drinking water with chlorid of lime, Grimm (Mitt. E. 

 Priifmigsanst. Wasserver. ii. Ahwasser. Berlin, 1912, No. 16, pp. 297-334). — 

 Experience with this method of purification in the United States, England, and 

 Germany is reviewed, and it is stated that this experience shows that two parts 

 of chlorid of lime per million of water acting for 24 hours will completely dis- 

 infect only water which contains a small amount of organic matter. 



Wholesome water in the country, F. H. Billings (8ci. Amer., 101 (1912), 

 No. 2, p. 33, fig. 1). — The dangers of pollution of country water supplies and 

 Low they may be avoided are briefly discussed. 



Sewage disposal in rural districts, A. Rodwei^l (Surveyor, ^2 (1912), No. 

 1072, pp. 161, 162). — Simple methods adjipted to country houses and small vil- 

 lages and towns are briefly described. 



Sewage treatment. — Advantages of land over artificial schemes, J. Man- 

 ley (Surveyor, J,2 (1912), No. 1072, pp. 162, 163).— A number of examples, 

 mostly English, of successful use of land treatment are cited. 



Sewage and the farmer, W. T, Sedgwick (Sci. Amer., 107 (W12), No. 2, p. 

 S8). — The author, discussing the waste of nitrogen in present methods of sew- 

 age disposal, the farmer's intei'est in the matter, the objection to the use of 

 sewage on the farm, and the effect on flsh of withholding sewage, reaches the 

 general conclusion " that, except in the more arid portions of the United States, 

 the utilization of sewage in farming does not seem likely to increase at present. 

 Consequently, we may have to look in the future for our supplies of food more 

 to the sea and less to the land." 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 



Important American soils, J. A. Bonsteel ( U. 8. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1911, 

 pp. 223-236). — As the dominant soil types, both as regards extent and crop 

 adaptation, the author names and discusses (1) the Miami clay loam, the Mar- 

 shall silt loam, the Carriugton loam, and Fargo clay loam (E. S. R., 25, p. 625) 

 of the Central States; (2) the Hagerstown loam (E. S. R.. 25, p. 426) of the 

 Appalachian Mountains and Plateau; and (3) the Norfolk fine sandy loam, 

 the Orangeburg fine sandy loam (E. S. R., 26, p. 120), and the Houston black 

 clay (E. S. R., 26, p. 517) of the coastal plain. 



" These 8 soils will ultimately be found to cover nearly or quite one-fifth 

 of the arable agricultural domain of the United States east of the ninety-eighth 

 meridian, if the estimates based upon the extent of their acreage within areas 

 covered by the soil surveys Is not materially changed by the completion of addi- 

 tional surveys. Because of the great area of these few types, because each soil 

 is preeminently adapted to tlie production of some great staple crop or group of 

 such crops, because the problems attendant upon the production of each of such 

 crops will be more easily solved upon such homogeneous soil areas than upon a 

 diversity of minor types, the agriculture of the Nation is destined to be influ- 



