SOILS FERTILIZERS. 619 



" When we reflect upon the depleted fertility of our own older farm lands, 

 comparatively few of which have seen a century's service, and upon the 

 enormous quantity of mineral fertilizers which are being applied annually to 

 them in order to secure paying yields, it becomes evident that the time is here 

 when profound consideration should be given to the practices the Mongolian 

 race has maintained through many centuries, which permit it to be said of 

 China that one-sixth of an acre of good land is ample for the maintenance 

 of one person, and which are feeding an average of three people per acre of 

 farm land in the three southernmost of the four main islands of Japan." 



How may fertilizer experiments be improved? A. W. K. de Jong (Teys- 

 mannia, 22 {1911), Nos. 6, pp. 3Jf9-362; 7, pp. 425-441; 9-10, pp. 562-574; U, 

 pp. 675-701, pi. 1, figs. !,; 23 {1912), Nos. 3, pp. 135-175, figs. 11; 5, pp. 297- 

 307). — This is mainly a summary of the more important information contained 

 in previous articles on the same subject by Wagner, A. Mayer, Wohltmann, 

 Drechsler, Fleischer, Liebscher, Dafert, Mitscherlich, Holtsmark and Larsen, 

 H. M. Gmelin, Middleton, Wood and Stratton, and Mercer and Hall (E. S. R., 

 15, p. 130 ; 16, p. 658 ; 17, p. 963 ; 18, p. 436 ; 19, p. 531 ; 22, p. 223 ; 24, p. 633 ; 

 25, p. 825; 26, p. 732). The article is a very complete review of recommenda- 

 tions which have been made by various investigators for the improvement of 

 the accuracy of field experiments with fertilizers. 



On the discrepancy between the results obtained by experiments in 

 manuring-, etc., in pots and in the fi.eld, L. Cohen {Jour, and Proe. Roy. Soc. 

 N. S. Wales, 43 {1909), pt. 2, pp. 117-122; ahs. in Chem. Abs., 6 {1912), No. 10, 

 p. 1332). — It is suggested that the discrepancies may be due to variations in con- 

 centration of the soil solution. " There is undoubted evidence that in ordinary 

 soil of medium fertility the use of soluble fertilizers is without profit, in fact 

 in certain cases positively detrimental, unless a correspondingly large amount of 

 water is used on the growing crop, so as to bring the soil moisture below the 

 maximum limit of concentration during its growth." The importance of exact 

 studies along this line is pointed out. 



Loss of fertilizer constituents in drainage water, A. W. Blair {Proc. Fla. 

 State Hort. Soc, 24 {1911), pp. 105-111, pi. 1, fig. i).— The tanks installed at the 

 Florida Station for the study of this subject (E. S. R., 25, p. 117) are described 

 and some of the preliminary results obtained with them are reported. 



Experiments with sodium nitrate, calcium, nitrate, and calcium cyanamid 

 on moor soils, A. Rindell {Meddel. Finska Mosskulturfor. Forsoksv., 3 {1911), 

 pp. 22; abs. in Zcntbl. Agr. Chem., 41 {1912), No. 5, pp. 317-321).— In these ex- 

 periments, on Finnish moor soils in need of nitrogen, barnyard manure was 

 found to be more effective than sodium nitrate. The relative efficiency of 

 sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and calcium carbonate varied with the amount 

 of the application and the character of the soil. 



The present status of the artificial nitrogen fertilizer industry, F. W. 

 Dafeet {Ostcrr. Chem. Ztg., 15 {1912), No. 7, pp. 86-89).— The present status of 

 the manufacture of ammonium sulphate, nitric acid, lime nitrogen, nitrids, and 

 the like, is briefly reviewed. 



The nitrate of soda industry of Chile, B. Diaz-Ossa {Rev. G^n. ScL, 23 

 {1912), No. 10, pp. 389-396, figs. 8; Sd. Amer. Sup., 7-J {1912), No. 1910, pp. 

 82, 83, figs. 8). — This article, by the professor of nitrate of soda technology of 

 the University of Chile, discusses briefly the history of development of the in- 

 dustry, the location and character of the deposits, and methods of exploitation 

 and puriflcation of the nitrate. 



The author is of the opinion that there is now enough nitrate in sight to sup- 

 ply the actual demand for a century. The complex character of the salts is 

 pointed out They contain besides sodium nitrate, chlorid, and sulphate, potas- 



