WATER SOILS. 27 



cases, corresponding subsoil) are reported. The regions and geological 

 formations represented are the Knox dolomite (near Knoxville), the 

 Lenoir limestone of Loudon County, Knox shales of Monroe County, 

 sandstone of Greene County, sandstone and conglomerate overlying 

 coal measures in Grundy County, St. Louis (coral) limestone of Frank- 

 lin County, the "barrens" of the highlands of Coffee County, blue 

 limestone of the Nashville formation in Maury County, St. Louis (coral) 

 limestone of Robertson County, sandy cretaceous of Benton County, 

 flatwoods (Porters Creek group of Safford), Paris clay of Carroll 

 County, Columbian deposits (Lagrange sands overlaid by orange 

 sands) of Gibson and Fayette counties, and Columbian deposits (the 

 loess, bluff loam of Safford) of Dyer County. 



The agricultural value and the best methods of management of the 

 different soils are very fully discussed, especial attention being given 

 to the necessity of protection against washing and the maintenance of 

 a sufficient supply of humus in the soil. 



A brief account is given of an experiment on four plats of soil on 

 the station grounds with barnyard manure and different mixtures of 

 commercial fertilizers. The crops grown were corn followed by soy 

 beans and cowpeas. Chemical analyses, including the determination of 

 phosphoric acid and potash soluble in 1 per cent citric acid, were made 

 at the beginning and the end of the experiment. The results indicate 

 that the barnyard manure was not only very effective as a direct fer- 

 tilizer, but was more active than the other fertilizers in rendering the 

 phosphoric acid and potash of the soil assimilable. 



The author concludes that on four-fifths of the farm lauds of Ten- 

 nessee "the use of commercial fertilizers, or fertilizer materials, must 

 come more and more into practice. The making, saving, and use of 

 farm manures, the growing of crops specially planted for the purpose 

 of adding to the humus supply, the careful husbanding of all materials 

 which may be incorporated into the soil to aid in chemical, physical, 

 and biological changes which must be actively persistent if fertility is 

 to be maintained, are acknowledged necessary things." 



Soil moisture, J. B. Weems and J. J. Edgerton (Iowa 8ta. Bui. 

 36, pp. 825-848). — This is an account of a continuation during 1890 of 

 work commenced in 1895 : ' 



"In addition to the effect produced upon the moisture present in the soil by certain 

 crops, attention was given to the influence of spring plowing, fall plowing, and 

 fall plowing with subsoiliug, upon the amount of moisture in connection with grow- 

 ing crops. The soil upon which the experiments were made was of as uniform a 

 nature as possible, in order to reduce the influence of the difference in the mechani- 

 cal condition to a minimum. The weight of the soil varied according to the depth, 

 and the weight for each cubic foot is given in the following table: First cubic foot, 

 70.23 lbs.; second cubic foot, 98.38 lbs.; third cubic foot, 04.78 lbs.; fourth cubic 

 foot, 103.60 lbs. The above weights are for the air-dried soil, which contained 

 moisture as follows: 2.88 per cent for the first, 2.-64 per cent fur the second, 1.80 per 

 cent for the third, and 1 30 per cent for the fourth cubic foot." 



' Iowa Sta. Bui. 32 (E. S. R., 8, p. 477). 

 2234— No. 1 3 



