508 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The recommendations of the committee were adopted, and the com- 

 mittee was continued 1 with instructions to use every effort to carry 

 into effect the recommendations of the report. 



SOILS AND ASH. 



Separate reports were submitted on these subjects, the first on soils 

 by the referee, H. Snyder, the second on ash by the associate referee, 

 B. L. Hartwell. The first summarized results of comparative tests by 

 8 analysts on soils of known deficiencies of the £ normal hydrochloric 

 acid method for determining available phosphoric acid and the calcium 

 chlorid and ammonium chlorid methods for determining available 

 potash. In addition to these principal lines of work, determinations 

 were made of total and humus nitrogen and calcium carbonate in the 

 soils. In some of the determinations of potash the electrolytic method 

 was used. 



H. Snyder also presented a paper on "Problems in soil investiga- 

 tions," in which a plea was made for systematic soil study and uniform 

 methods. The importance of taking into consideration the acid and 

 basic characteristics of soils was pointed out, and the question of 

 standards of fertility was discussed. 



H. J. Wheeler read a paper on methods of determining the fertilizer 

 requirements of soils, in which attention was called to the unreliability 

 of soil tests of fertilizers under certain conditions, e. g., with a deficiency 

 of lime or water. The conclusions of this paper were based upon the 

 results of several years' experiments at the Rhode Island Station. 



Two papers by C. G. Hopkins were submitted to the Association: (1) 

 "A rapid method of mechanical soil analysis, including the use of 

 centrifugal force," and (2) "A plea for a scientific basis for the divisions 

 of soil particles in mechanical analysis." 



H. W. Wiley spoke of the increasing importance of soil analysis, and 

 referred to the Hawaiian soils as opening up new and interesting 

 problems in soil investigation. He also called attention to the tendency 

 to increased acidity in arable soils as a fact which should always be 

 borne in mind in soil investigations. 



H. Snyder, J. A. Myers, M. E. Jaffa, H. A. Huston, and H. J. Wheeler 

 also discussed different phases of the question of soil investigation. 



The | normal hydrochloric acid method for available phosphoric acid 

 gave very satisfactory results in the tests and was made a provisional 

 method of the Association. In the method for determining humus 

 nitrogen the soil is to be exhausted with 3 per cent sodium hydrate 

 after treatment with 2 per cent hydrochloric acid and washing. The 

 calcium chlorid method for determining available potash is abandoned. 



'The committee for the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists is H. W. 

 Wiley, B. W. Kilgore, H. A. Hustou, H. B. McDonnell, and B. B. Ross. The com- 

 mittee for the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions is H. J. Wheeler, H. P. Armsby, E. H. Jenkins, M. A. Scovell, and C. D. Woods. 



