WATER SOILS. 933 



The potash, being more soluble, accumulated more rapidly here thau 

 phosphoric acid. The movement aud accumulation of the different 

 constituents in the soil are determined largely of course by the tex- 

 ture and tilth of the soil, the amount of rainfall, etc. 



On the analysis of soil as a guide to its fertility, B. Dyer (Trans. 

 Highland and Agr. Soc. Scotland, 5. ser., 10 (1898), pp. 26-52). — This is 

 essentially "a popular summary of the more extensive paper" by the 

 author, entitled "On the analytical determination of probably avail- 

 able mineral plant-food in soils" published in 1894 (E. S. R., 5, p. 1013). 

 Some reference, however, is made to hitherto unpublished results 

 obtained in a study of samples "representing not only the first 9 in. of 

 soil, but also 2 succeeding depths of 9 in. each" from wheat plats at 

 Rothamsted. 



" [These results show] that if we regard only the total phosphoric acid, the ratio 

 between that found in the soils phosphatieally starved aud that in those phosphat- 

 ically manured (with superphosphate or with farmyard manure) is about 1:1.7, a 

 difference which is sufficiently striking when the soils are all known to be from one 

 field, but from which, as a mere analytical result, one could not draw very strong 

 conclusions if the soils happened to be from different neighborhoods. When, how- 

 ever, we regard the ' available' (i. e., citric-acid-soluble) phosphoric acid in the same 

 way, we find a ratio of about 1 : 6. It is iuterestiug to notice that the ratios, both for 

 total phosphoric acid and for citric-acid-soluble phosphoric acid, are practically 

 the same as those found in the examination of the Hoos field barley soils already 

 discussed." 



A comparison was also made of the potash content of wheat plats to 

 which no potash had been applied for 40 or 50 years and that of plats 

 to which potash had been applied. 



"In the case of the hydrochloric-acid-soluble potash, the ratio between the 2 sets 

 of soils is 1 : 1.1; but when we regard the 'available' potash, we find, as in the case 

 of the barley soils, an overwhelming ratio of 1 : 8. ... 



"A knowledge of the proportion of potash soluble in hydrochloric acid is in most 

 cases of very small value. I venture to think, however, that the determination of 

 the potash dissolved by a dilute solution of citric acid is possessed of much more 

 value." 



The analyses of Jamaica soils, F. Watts (Jour. Jamaica Agr. 

 Soc, 3 (1899), No. 1, pp. 17-22). — Mechanical and chemical analyses of 

 6 samples of soil from different parts of the island are reported. 

 "These represent 3 very distinct types of soil — the red soils from Mocho 

 in Clarendon and Brokenhurst in Manchester, the sandy soil from the 

 St. Andrew's Plain at Barbican, and the heavier low-lying soils of 

 Hartlands in St. Catharine." The red soils consist largely of fine silt 

 or clay (45-61 per cent). They contain a very small amount of insol- 

 uble matter (about 19 per cent), due to an abnormal amount of soluble 

 oxid of iron and alumina (4G per cent) and combined water. "Although 

 lying upon the limestone, and doubtless derived from it, these soils are 

 singularly deficient in carbonate of lime ; if all the carbonic acid be 

 calculated into terms of carbonate of lime we have only 0.58 per cent 

 in the Mocho soil and 1.57 per cent in the case of the Brokenhurst 

 sample." The proportion of potash in these soils is not large (0.05 to 



