SOILS. 23 



100 cc. flask with a little KCIO3, nearly neutralized with ammonia, and 

 tlien boilotl with sodium acetate, which will precipitate the greater por- 

 tion of tlie iroiT, silica, and phosphoric acid. Tlie solution is cooled 

 rapidly, made up to 100 cc, and passed through a dry filter; 50 cc. (cor- 

 responding to 7.5 gm. of the original sample) is strongly acidified with 

 acetic acid and the lime is precipitated by ammonium oxalate with 

 heating. The jirecipitate is washed, dried, ignited in a platinum cru- 

 cible over a blast lamj) for about 10 minutes, dissolved in a measured 

 quantity of dilute HCI of known strength, and titrated with a baryta 

 solution. The solution must be previously filtered if turbid or colored 

 from undissolved oxide of irou or manganese. 



Determination of potash and phosphoric acid. — One hundred cubic cen- 

 timeters of the filtrate is measured into a 200 cc. tlask and oxidized with 

 25 to 30 cc. of a saturated bromin solution (the oxidation is often incom- 

 plete). Tbe solution is then boiled until tlie bromin is driven off, pre- 

 cipitated with ammonia and carbonate and oxalate of ammonia, cooled, 

 filled to mark, and filtered. Fifty cubic centimeters of the filtrate is 

 evaporated to dryness, first on a water bath, then in an air bath; the 

 ammonia salts are careftdly volatilized and about 1 cc. of a saturated 

 oxalic acid solution is added to the residue, again evaporated, and care- 

 fully ignited. Organic matter is destroyed by this method, and salts 

 of heavy metals changed into carbonates. Tbe alkalies are then dis- 

 solved in boiling water, a little HCI added, and the potash determined 

 in the usual manner. 



The precipitate formed by the addition of ammonia and carbonate 

 and oxalate of ammonia is transferred to a filter, washed with a little 

 boilingwater to remove the greater portion of the ammonia salts, boiled 

 with concentrated H2SO4 (silica precipitated), made up to 100 cc. in a 

 graduated flask and filtered. The phosphoric acid is determined in 

 the usual way in 500 cc. of the filtrate (corresponding to 15 gm. of the 

 sample). — f. w. woll. 



Soil temperatures. R. D. Newton {New Yorh State Sta.Rpt. lS92,pp.717-7S3).—A. 

 tabulated record for 1892 of tri-daily readings of soil thermometers at depths of from 

 1 to 18 iu.is given. 



Soil temperatures, B. C. Buffum {Wyoming Sta. Bid. 17, p. 42). — A table shows 

 the weekly means of observatious at depths of from 3 to 72 in. at Laramie, Wyo., 

 during the year 1893. 



Researches on the behavior of soils toward -water, A. Peiffeu {Ilev. Agron., 

 3 {1894), Xo. l,pp. 9-14).-— A. brief resume? of the work of WoUny ou the absorption, 

 percolation, and evaporation of soil water; of A. Miiller ou the effect of fro.st; and 

 of R. Sachsse, A. Becker, and T. Sobluaiug on the effect of tlie flocculation of clay by 

 lime on the movement of soil water. 



A preliminary examination of certain soils of the arrondissement of Beziers, 

 H. Lagatu and L. Semichon. — A 65-page pamjthlet reporting results of mechanical 

 and chemical analyses, with description of samples of 44 samples of soils with corre- 

 sponding subsoils made at the National School of Agricultuie of Montpellier. 



Agricultural charts of the canton of Ferte-sous-Jouarre, Gatelueu {Compt. 

 Bend., 118 {1894), No. 21, pp. 1167-1170).— A brief discussiou of the practical value of 

 this chart, which ia based upon a careful agricultural survey and shows the area and 



