1917] SOILS FERTILIZERS. 323 



Bureau of Soils, U. S, Department of Agriculture, M. Whitney {Cornell 

 Countryman, 14 (1916), No. 1, pp. 18-22, figs. 2). — This is a brief outline of the 

 chief activities of the Bureau of Soils. 



Artificial manures, 1916 (Glamorgan County Council, Agr. Committee [Pam- 

 phlet], 1916, pp. Jf). — Brief suggestions on manures and manuring to meet war- 

 time conditions in England are given. 



Soil fertility considerations in the feeding of hogs and milch cows, E. B. 

 FoBBEs (Mo. Bui. OJiio Sta., 1 (1916), No. 11, pp. 351, 352).— In a series of in- 

 come and outgo experiments with five growing hogs, it was found that on the 

 average the excreta contained 74, 87, and 86 per cent of the nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus, and potassium of the rations fed. In two series of experiments with 

 six cows in each, it was found that the excreta contained 67.45, 74.4, and 71.6 

 per cent of the nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, respectively, of the rations 

 fed, being in all cases appreciably less than the percentages found in the 

 excreta of the growing hogs. 



Plant food deficiencies of Coastal Plain and Piedmont soils, C. B. Williams 

 (Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chem., 8 (1916), No. 9, pp. 823, 824; Proc. Soc. Prom. 

 Agr. ScL, 36 (1915), pp. 67-75). — Data showing the average amounts of nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash in the leading soil types of the Coastal Plain and 

 Piedmont regions in which field work has been conducted by the North Caro- 

 lina Experiment Station are reported, which indicate that " potentially most 

 of the soils are fairly well supplied with potash, but that the amounts of phos- 

 phoric acid and nitrogen, one or the other, or both, are at present or soon 

 will be limiting factors in the production of large crops." Data obtained in 

 field fertilizer experiments by the station are taken to indicate that the " chief 

 needs for plant growth in the Coastal Plain region are generally first for 

 nitrogen, and second for potash and lime. Those soils of chief importance and 

 extent in the Piedmont region show a lack first for phosphoric acid, and second 

 for nitrogen. Without the addition of these deficient plant food constituents, 

 it will be impossible to grow large crops for any great length of time." 



Note on the soil of the experimental farms [in Burma], F. J. Warth 

 (Dept. Agr. Burma Bui. 13 (1913), pp. 9). — Pot culture experiments on alkaline 

 heavy clay and clay, neutral clay loam, sand and sandy loam, slightly acid sand 

 and sandy loam, and strongly acid clay paddy soils are reported, together with 

 chemical analyses of the different soils, the purpose being to throw light on the 

 problem of availability of phosphoric acid in paddy soils. 



It was found that with the soils used citric acid extraction forms no criterion 

 for the amount of phosphoric acid available for a paddy crop. Pot cultures 

 showed that a shortage of phosphoric acid was felt at a very early stage. This 

 shortage in the case of a long-lived variety grown under favorable conditions 

 is in time more or less made up as the plant develops. The normal yields of 

 paddy from the four heavy soils were least, and these soils also were deficient 

 in phosphoric acid. " The figures for total and available phosphoric acid given 

 in the soil analysis . . . are undoubtedly an index of the total supply of this 

 substance and its state of occurrence." 



Fertilizer experiments with sugar cane on the red clay soil, P. L. Gile and 

 J. O. Caeeero (Porto Rico Sta. Rpt. 1915, pp. 16-24). — In continuation of investi- 

 gations previously noted (E. S. R., 30, p. 818) experiments to determine the fer- 

 tilizer requirements of areas found to respond to fertilizers in the previous work 

 are reported. 



The results of four experiments on the effect of fertilizers on sugar cane on 

 the lowland red clay soil, involving 290 plats and 58 acres of land, showed that 

 one field failed to respond to 3,500 lbs. of quicklime per acre with and without 

 81075°— No. 4r— 17 3 



