AIR WATER SOILS. 727 



"During this busy day the parent birds bad made almost 200 visits to the nest, 

 bringing food nearly every time, though some of the trips seemed to be made to 

 furnish grit for the grinding of the food. There was no long interval when they 

 were not at work, the longest period between visits having been 27 minutes. Soft- 

 bodied caterpillars were the most abundant elements of the food, but crickets and 

 crane flies were also seen, and doubtless a great variety of insects was taken. The 

 precise determination of the most of the food brought was of course impossible, the 

 observations having been undertaken especially to learn the regularity of the feed- 

 ing habits of the adult birds. That they were busy from daylight to dark with no 

 long intermission at any time is shown by the record. . . . The bird certainly 

 deserves all the protection and encouragement that can be given it." 



Joint report of the botanist and entomologist and the veterinarian on spermo- 

 phile or ground-squirrel investigations, C. V. Piper and S. B. Nelson ( Washing- 

 ton Sta. I<pt. 1896, pp. 26-29). — Brief statements are made concerning the life-history 

 studies of the ground squirrel and experiments to exterminate it by poisons and by 

 bacterial diseases. 



AIR— WATER— SOILS. 



Percolation, storage, and movement of water in the soil, P. P. 

 Deherain (Ann. Agron., 24 (1898), No. 10, pp. 149-481, charts 4). — An 

 account is given of laboratory experiments with 200-grn. samples of soil 

 to determine the difference in storage capacity, permeability, and capil- 

 lary power of loose and compact soils. The results show that the loose 

 soil is much more permeable and has a greater storage capacity for water 

 than the compact soil. After prolonged rain, however, the capacity for 

 water of the loose soil may gradually diminish until it becomes less 

 than that of the compact soil at the beginning. Water percolates 

 easily through loose soils, and thus a large reserve of moisture collects 

 in the subsoil. On the other hand, water percolates slowly through 

 compact soils, is subject to great loss by evaporation, and does not 

 collect except in small quantities in the subsoil. 



This subject was also investigated in vegetation boxes in which dif- 

 ferent crops were grown. The results confirm those obtained in the 

 laboratory experiments. It was found that in the case of the loose 

 soil a reserve of moisture collected in the subsoil within reach of the 

 roots of plants, such as wheat and alfalfa. Water, however, rose by 

 capillarity much more readily in the compact soil than in the loose soil. 



The practical application of the facts demonstrated in these experi- 

 ments is briefly discussed. 



Percentage of water retained by long columns of sand, F. H. 

 King ( Wisconsin Sta. Rpt. 1897, pp. 254-256).— Attention has been 

 called in a previous report of the station (E. S. E., 8, p. '291) to the long- 

 continued percolation of water from sands of different grades in cylin- 

 ders 8 ft. long and 5 in. in diameter. Further observations on this 

 subject are here reported. Tables show the amounts of water which 

 percolated from the cylinders as measured at intervals, from February 

 7, 1894, to September 28, 1896, as well as the amount of water remain- 

 ing in different sections (3 in.) of the columns at the latter date. 

 16130— No. 8 3 



