792 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



pp. 145-149, pis. 3). — This is an nccount of a coritiimation of experiments 

 described in the Report of the Station for 18Dl-'92, pp. 80-'l)0 (E. S. K., 

 5, p, 5G*J), the treatment tried in the earlier experiments on a small 

 scale (4-acre plat) on underdrained soil being extended to a larger area 

 (f acre), which had not been underdrained, but had had the hardpan 

 broken up by blasting. 



"'ilie total amount of gypsum used upon the acre now under treatment is 3,000 

 lbs. Only 625 lbs. has gone on the lirst one fourth acre, which was underdrained. 

 This was at the rate of 1^ tons to the acre. The plats on whicli blasting powder 

 was used have required 2,375 lbs. of gypsum, or at tlie rate of nearly 3,200 lbs. to 

 the acre, and are not yet as far reclaimed as the lirst plat. Tliey will probably 

 require half a ton more to yield wheat and barley at the rate of hist year's crop on 

 the smaller plat. The gypsum is evidently distributed more evenly and therefore 

 more efl'ectively by the method of nnderdraiuiug, where the conditions are similar 

 to those that prevail at the Tulare Station. . . . 



"The cultures attempted in the spring of 1892 were more varied than before, 

 embracing beets, corn, sorghum, cereals, grasses, clovers, and some garden crops. 

 Most of these were sown in short rows near the middle of the plat, and the rows 

 received a special application of gypsum to better protect the seed. Results sliowed 

 the effect of the underdraius; the nearer the jilants stood to the line of a drain the 

 better they grew. While many cultures failed entirely, there was much to encour- 

 age hopefulness. Sorghum au<l Egyptian corn in some cases grew 6 or 7 ft. high, 

 and yielded heavily. Close beside such plants as these were others hardly 3 in. 

 high, pigmies of the same age, stunted by tlie alkali. A few barley plants were 

 normal, but most of them when headed out were only 3 or 4 in. high. It was 

 evident that the leaching of the plat had been very uneven, owing to the hardness 

 of the soil; and most of the gypsum used in 1892 was used upon the spots where tlie 

 alkali still remained sti'ongest. . . . 



" On the three fourths of an acre where blasting powder had been used . . . the 

 leacliiug proceeded more slowly than on the first plat, but good progress has been 

 made, and another season a fair crop of wheat and barley can be expected." 



A new simple method of determining lime in arable soils, A. 



DE Saporta {Compt. Rend., 120 (1895), ^o. i, jjp. 315-217).— A known 

 weight of the soil to be examine I is dropped into a measured quantity, 

 say 200 cc, of hydrocldoric acid of known specitic gravity (1.1 at l^o 

 C), and after solution is complete the increase in specitic gravity of 

 the acid is determined. It is claimed that in experiments with pure 

 marble the increase in specific gravity was directly jiroportional to the 

 amount of marble used, and so in examining soils the readings of the 

 hydrometer may be taken as indicating the amount of lime dissolved. 

 Eesults obtained by this method and by Bernard's calciineter on 4 

 samples of soil show close agreement. The merit of extreme simplicity 

 claimed by the author for his method appears to be about the only one 

 it possesses. 



Comparison of the action of hydrochloric and oxalic acids in 

 soil extraction, M. E. Jaffa [California ISta. Kpt. 1893 and 1891, pp. 

 63-65). — Two soils, a black adobe and a reddish sandy soil, were each 

 digested in porcelain beakers for 5 days in the usual way in hydrochloric 

 acid of 1.115 sp. gr. and oxalic acid of a corresponding strength. 



The hydrochloric acid extract was analyzed in the usual manner. 



