388 expp:riment station record. 



"The experimeuts of 1S95 just described do not by any iiiejius couclude the subject, 

 but are rather a report of progress, and have been purposely descrilied so as to pre- 

 sent fully their defects. The investigation Avill be continued during the coming 

 season. 



''The indications of the present year's tests agree Avith those of 1894 in these 

 respects, that the nitrogen of castor pomace A has shown the highest availabilty of 

 any form of organic nitrogen ; that fish, horn and hoof, and tankage have manifested 

 the lowest availability, leather excepted; while cotton-seed meal, castor pomace B, 

 linseed meal, and dried blood stand intermediate, with no very striking dilference 

 between the four." 



In determiuiug the amount of nitrogen in the oat crops it was found 

 that many of them contained nitrates. Direct determinations in 9 

 samples gave from 0.05 to 1 per cent of nitric nitrogen. 



Loss of fertilizer nitrogen, E. H. Jenkins and W. E. Britton 



{Connecticut iState ^Stu. Kpt. 1895, j^P- 05-08). 



"Fifty grams of surface soil from the station garden (which is annually dressed 

 liberally with mixed cow and horse manure and with fertilizer chemicals), 50 gm. 

 of fresh cow dung and 50 gm. of fresh horse dung were stirred up with Avater, each 

 in a separate vessel, and the muddy liquids were strained through tufts of glass 

 wool. This was repeated till the volume of the filtered liquid amounted in each 

 case to 750 cc. To each was then added 5 gm. of sodium nitrate and water to make 

 1,000 cc. 



"Nitrogen as nitrates was immediately determined in each solution. The flasks 

 were tightly stoppered and kept in a closet nearly dark. From time to time nitro- 

 gen was again detenuined. . . . 



"It appears that iu the extract of garden soil, very little nitrogen was lost through 

 reduction of nitrates during 10 months. 



"The extracts of fresh horse dung and fresh cow dung caused considerable loss 

 of nitrogen from the nitrates by reduction. The reduction by the extract of cow 

 dung was in this experiment somewhat slower and less in amount than that of the 

 horse dung. 



"While the gains and losses of nitrate nitrogen in several cases are within the 

 limits of analytical error, it is probable that in the extract of horse dung after May 

 24 nitrates began to increase by nitrification of the org.inic nitrogen. 



"In a further experiment 2 extracts were prepared iu precisely the way above 

 described, the one from 50 gm. of fresh horse dung, the other from 50 gm. of a pot- 

 ting soil prepared for use in the forcing house. This was made of pasture sod and 

 the soil just beneath, composted with about one-third their bulk of mixed horse 

 and cow manure. The mixture made in the summer of 1894 had stood in a conical 

 compact pile exposed till the fall of 1895. The soil for this experiment was taken 

 from the interior of this pile at a depth of 2 to 3 ft. 



"To each of tlie extracts prepared as above and measuring 1,000 cc, 5 gm. of 

 nitrate of soda was added." 



The recorded determinations of the amount of nitric nitrogen at dif- 

 ferent dates show that "while the surface S(.il of the garden, although 

 heavily dressed each year with stable manure, had little or no effect in 

 destroying nitrates, the potting earth (made by composting contiguous 

 pasture sod and a few inches of underlying soil with stalde manure), 

 reduced nitrates to about half the extent caused by fresh horse dung." 



The cultural value of different phosphates, P. de Vuyst and P. 

 i^ YSSENS {JJeuxieme Rapport, Brussels, 1806, pp. 27). — Tliis is an account 



