AIR WATER — SOILS. 



531 



Elements dissolved by the action of one per cent solutions of different acids in twenty-four 



hour 8. 



Acids. 



Aspartic . 

 Asparagin 



Citric 



Acetic 



Tartaric... 

 Oxalic 



Calcium 



oxid. 



Per cent. 

 0. 1065 

 .0078 

 .1110 



.1000 

 .1180 

 .0170 



Potas- 

 sium 

 oxid. 



Percent. 



0. 0489 

 .0117 

 .0260 

 . 0240 

 . 0-J40 

 .0226 



Phos- 

 phoric 

 acid. 



Per cent. 

 0. 0054 

 . 0015 

 .0037 

 .0003 

 . 0054 

 .0106 



Ferric 



and 



aliiiuinic 



oxids. 



Per cent. 

 0.0450 



.0050 

 . 6630 

 .0060 

 .1880 

 .5430 



Silica. 



Per cent. 

 0. 1060 

 .1740 

 . 1990 

 .0740 

 .1970 

 .2330 



A comparison of amounts of soil constituents soluble in dilute acids 

 with those removed by crops and in drainage water " shows that the 

 elements lime, potash, and phosphoric acid that are being lost to the 

 land have been and are being removed by the waters of discharge and 

 by cropping in the same relative proportions. . . . Aspartic acid acts 

 upon and dissolves the constituent elements of the soil in almost the 

 exact relative proportions that those elements are removed by cropping 

 and the waters of discharge. . . . 



"Analyses of the upland soils show that under the action of 20 years' cropping 

 and cultivation, and during the time of the production of 10 crops of cane, 40.2 per 

 cent of lime, 16.6 per cent of potash, and 2.02 per cent of phosphoric acid have been 

 actually removed from the land. As a result of the action of a 1 per cent solution 

 of aspartic acid upon the upland soils for a period of 24 hours there were 

 removed 40.2 per cent of lime, 18.1 per cent of potash, and 2.02 per cent of phos- 

 phoric acid; which amounts of material are almost exactly equal to the amounts of 

 the same materials removed from the same soils by 20 years of cropping and 

 during the production of 10 crops of cane." 



On the presence of sulphurous acid in the air of the Tharand forests, H. Wis- 

 LICENUS {Tharand. Forst. Jahrb., 48 (1898), pp. 173-184). 



Tobacco soils, M. Whitney ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bui. 83, pp. 23, fig. 1).— This 

 bulletin discusses in a popular way " part of some preliminary work ' which has 

 been done in the examination of the soils of the principal tobacco districts of the 

 country." The topics treated are climate and distribution of tobacco; soils of the 

 several districts, including northern cigar-tobacco soils (Connecticut Valley, Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin) ; southern tobacco soils (western Florida and the 

 Florida peninsula); bright-tobacco lauds; manufacturing-tobacco lands on the 

 Atlantic; whitc-burloy lands of Kentucky and Ohio; export-tobacco lands of Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee ; the water content of northern cigar-tobacco soils, Florida 

 tobacco soils, soils of the manufacturing and export tobacco districts; and control 

 of the water supply of the soil. 



Report on the composition of the soils of Carmargue, G. Castine (Bid. [Min. 

 Agr. France], 16 (1897), No. 4, pp. 614-6G5; 5, pp. 79S-83S; Ann. Sci. Agron., 1898,1, 

 Xo. 2, pp. 240-320; 3, pp. 321-370). — This is an exhaustive study of the soils along the 

 Rhone in this region, special attention being given to an investigation of the nature 

 of the alkaline soils (including a note by E. W. Hilgard on the analysis of the efflor- 

 escences of alkali soils). 



On the reduction of nitrates in arable soil, P. P. Deherain (Ann. Aaron., .'I 

 (1898), Xo. 3, pp. 130-134). — Experiments are reported in which the influence of 

 dirterent amounts of starch (1 and 2 per cent) and straw (1 per cent) on nitrifica- 

 tion was determined in 2 soils. The nitrates uniformly decreased in the soil to 

 which starch was added. With straw, however, the nitrates first decreased slightly 

 and then gradually increased. The bearing of these results on the work of Wagner 



1 See also U. S. Dept. Agr., Division of Soils Bui. 11 (E. S. R., 9, p. 1035). 



