28 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



to from —28.2 in January to 99.1° F. in July. The average annual rainfall varied 

 from 27.5 in. at Stevens Point to 33.12 in. at Xeillsville. Killing frosts occur 

 occasionally as late as May and June. They do not occur earlier in the fall than in 

 northern Illinois or Iowa. 



Note on scale for chemical valuation of soils, V. Edwards (Chem. News, 89 

 (1904), No. 2317, p. 197).— The author states that in judging fertility of the soil from 

 a chemical standpoint he "would describe a good soil as containing 0.25 per cent of 

 each of the three essential ingredients, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash; thus, 

 the three added together, 0.75 would equal 100, and from their analysis all soils 

 could be in a manner compared with the 'standard' imaginary one." 



Promising methods for the investigation of problems of soil and plant 

 physiology, and some lines of investigation to which they are adapted, 

 F. H. King (Proc. Soc. Prom. Agr. Set., 1904, pp. 171-190).— The author points out 

 the importance from the standpoint of the relation of soil moisture to crop yield of 

 "a simultaneous study which would reveal quantitatively and qualitatively the 

 character of the solution which the soil moisture represents, both as it exists in tin- 

 soil under the growing crop and after it has been absorbed and becomes functional 

 in plant growth." 



The development of satisfactory rapid methods, mainly volumetric, for this purpose 

 is referred to (see also E. S. R., 15, p. 457) and tests of their reliability in comparison 

 with gravimetric methods in determining the water-soluble salts of type soils and the 

 concentration of plant sap and culture solutions are reported. The results of some 

 preliminary studies by means of the methods on the capillary movement of dissolved 

 salts in mulched aiid unmulched soils are also reported. 



Can plant analysis determine the content of assimilable plant food in 

 soils? M. Stahl-Schroder {Jour. Landw., 52 (1904), No. 1-2, pp. 31-92). — A series 

 of plat experiments made in 1893 and 1894 with oats, on light and heavy soils, 

 with different combinations of fertilizing materials, is reported, with analyses of the 

 grain and roots of the plants from each plat, the object of the experiments being to 

 determine the value of Heinrich's method " of root analysis and Atterberg's method 

 of seed analysis as means of determining the assimilable plant food in soils. 



The results indicate that the first method is of little or no value and in many cases 

 leads to erroneous conclusions, and that the second method gives results which are 

 not of general application but apply only to the particular climatic and soil condi- 

 tions of the region in which the experiments are made. The composition of the 

 seed varies considerably with the season and with the character of the soil, but 

 apparently is not appreciably affected by the variety or the time of planting. 



The water-soluble plant food of soils, H. Snyder (Proc. Soc. Prom. Ayr. Sci. t 

 1904, pp. 25-31).— See E. S. R., 15, p. 543. 



Studies on the development and distribution of nitrates and total water- 

 soluble salts in field soils ( Wisconsin Sta. Rpt. 1903, pp. 339-345). — A summary of 

 investigations during the 10 years ending with 1903. The following articles are 

 included: Soluble Salts in Cultivated Soils, by F. H. King and J. A. Jeffery (E. S. R., 

 12, p. 28); Soluble Salts in Cultivated Soils, by F. H. King and A. R. Whitson 

 (E. S. R., 13, p. 24); Development and Distribution of Nitrates and Total Soluble 

 Salts in Cultivated Field Soils, by F. H. King and A. R. Whitson (E. S. R., 13, 

 p. 229); Development and Distribution of Nitrates in Cultivated Soils, by F. H. 

 King and A. R. Whitson (E. S. R., 14, p. 231); Influence of the Soil on the Protein 

 Contents of the Crops, by A. R. Whitson, F. J. Wells, and A. Vivian (E. S. R., 14, 

 p. 955). 



«Grundlagen zur Beurteilung der Ackerkrume, Wismar, 1882. 



