WATER SOILS. 231 



The sugar beet as a reclaimer of arid and alkali regions, H. 0. Myers 

 {Jonr. Sor. ('hem. Ind, JI {I!)OJ), No. IJ, pp. S.U-838, fi<js. .^).— Tliis is the second 

 article on this subject by the same author (E. S. R., 13, p. 641), and gives results of 

 observations on the growth of sugar Ijeets on virgin alkali soil in West Weber, Utah, 

 where cultivation has never been attempted, the land being irrigated from artesian 

 wells. Analyses of soils, water, and beets are given. 



Studies on the distribution of lime in the soils of vineyards, J. Dufour and 

 11. Faes {Citron. Agr. CoNton. Vaud, 15 {1902), Xo.'^. lo, pp. 437-445; 10, pp. 480-4^7). 



Occurrence and importance of soluble manganese salts in soils, E. E. 

 EwELL {Science, n. ser., 16 {190J), No. 399, p. 291).— An abstract of a i)aper presented 

 to the American Chemical Society at its summer meeting, which briefly reports the 

 results of an examination of a soil which failed to grow leguminous plants and which 

 was found to contain a very considerable amount of manganese compounds soluble 

 in water, more in fact than of lime. 



Agriculture in its relations to bacteria and other ferments, H. W. Wiley 

 {Jonr. Franklin Inst., 154 {1902), Nos. 2, pp. 81-90, pi. 1, figs. 3; 3, pp. 161-169, pl.l, 

 pg. i).— This article deals almost exclusively with the transformations of nitrogen in 

 the soil under the influence of micro-organisms — nitrification, denitrifi cation, and 

 assimilation of nitrogen by plants — incidentally describing the methods followed in 

 the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department in sampling and examining various soils 

 used in studies on nitrification. In discussing the problem of exhausted soils the 

 author takes the somewhat unusual position "that the leguminous crops will not 

 grow except in a reasonably fertile soil and hence it is useless to expect the restora- 

 tion of fertility to an exhausted soil by a natural means. . . . With such soils the 

 best recourse is to nitrogen already available, that is, some form of nitric acid. The 

 cheapest source at present is sodium nitrate or Chile saltpeter." 



Development and distribution of nitrates in cultivated soils, F. H. King 

 and A. R. Whit.son {Wisanmin Sia. Bui. 93, j)p. 39, figs. 6). — This is a detailed 

 account of investigations more briefly reported elsewhere (E. S. R., 13, p. 930). The 

 additional data include the results of a study of the variation in nitrification in soil 

 and suljsoil, which show greatest development of nitrates in the surface 6 in. of soil 

 and the least in the third 6 in.; also the results of observations on the transforma- 

 tion of nitrogen in a galvanized iron lysimeter 5 ft. deep and having an area of 37.5 

 sq. ft., and on the development of nitrates in fallow and immediately adjacent soil 

 under crops. 



Investigations on the determination and composition of humus, and its 

 nitrification, C. Rimbach {OiUfornia Sta. Rpt. 1899-1901, 1)1. 1, p>P- 4^3-48). — Labora- 

 tory experiments on the rate of nitrification of humates of lime and magnesia pre- 

 1 tared from soils are reported, which verify "the assumption made heretofore by 

 Prufessor Hilgard and others that Grandeau's matiere noire is a direct source of nitro- 

 gen through nitrification." They also tend to confirm Hilgard' s conclusion "that 

 humus containing a high percentage of nitrogen, such as is found in the soils of the 

 arid regions., will yield larger amounts of nitrates in the same time tiian will that of 

 lower nitrogen percentages, and that conversely, low ijitrogen percentages may fail 

 to supply a sufficiency for plant growth." Grandeau's method for the determination 

 of huinus and of nitrogen in humus was investigated, with the following results: 



"By leaching with chlorhydric acid and water a certain quantity of humus, vary- 

 ing in the different soils, is lost to the subsequent extraction with ammonia. 



"The content of nitrogen of the soda extract, being different from that of tlie 

 ammonia extract, can not be directly referred to the content of organic matter of the 

 latter. 



"In the determination of organic matter and nitrogen in the ammonia extract, 

 the quantity of combined ammonia must be considered. ... It is evident that the 

 percentages of liumus heretofore determined are too high, inasmuch as the combined 



