19191 SOILS — FKRTILIZKRS. 211 



making amends for October in securing the root, and, above all, potato crops. 

 Shortage of man-power alone prevented this being realized to the full, so that 

 the severe December frosts in some parts (lid damage in onharvested fields." 



The weather of the past agricultural year, F. J. Bbodtjs (Jour. Roy. Agr. 

 Soc. England, 78 (1917), pp. 127-1S8).— The usual meteorological data from 

 stations in different parts of England and Wales for 1917 are summarized and 

 discussed. Attention is called especially to the "extraordinarily long, cold, and 

 dreary winter " of 1916-17 and the unusually late spring of 1917. 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 



Interpretation of field observations on the moistness of the subsoil, F. J. 

 Ai way. <;. K. McDoLE, and R. S. Trumbull (Jour. Amer. Soc. Agron., 10 (1918), 

 No. 7-8, pp. 265-27S). — In connection with work done at the Nebraska Experi- 

 ment Station during 1907-1913, a definite correlation was found to exist between 

 notations made in the field on the apparent moistures of soil samples at the 

 time of sampling for moisture determinations in semiarid southwestern 

 Nebraska and in the humid eastern portion of the State and the data later 

 obtained in the laboratory. A numerical Interpretation has been placed on the 

 field observations and expressed as the ratio of the moisture content to the 

 hygroscopic coefficient Later studies were also made in Minnesota but are 

 deemed to be of limited value. 



When the soil was too dry to be removed from the boring by the ordinary 

 open anger the condition was designated as " powder," and the ratio was found 

 to be 1.3 or lower, whereas with soil sufficiently moist to adhere well to the 

 auger a ratio of 1.5 or above, was obtained. In the semiarid soils examined 

 having hydroscopic coefficients ranging from 2 to 14 and representing the com- 

 mon tillable types, the powdered state was found to be very common and a 

 mere field examination gave a quite satisfactory estimate of moisture condi- 

 tions. Data secured on very fine textured soils and on coarse sands are said 

 to be too few to warrant similar interpretations. With humid soils this drj 

 condition was comparatively rare, being limited chiefly to well-established 

 alfalfa fields. Ordinary mineral subsoils rarely showed a ratio above 2.5. 

 Roots appeared to be unable to penetrate a soil stratum having a ratio below 

 1.5, and the lower limit to which the plant roots could reduce the subsoil 

 moisture is said to be approximately 1 or 1.1. 



This method of interpretation is thought to give promise of usefulness in 

 dry-land regions, both as a field aid for soil investigators and agronomists and 

 as a practical method for county agricultural agents and the more intelligent 

 farmers. 



The influence of the height of the water table in swampy meadows, E. 

 Xystrom and H. Osvald (Svenska MosskuHurfor. Tidskr., Si (1918), No. 1, pp. 

 42-114, flffs. 16). — This article is divided into a report by E. Nystrom on the 

 plans and methods followed and the yields obtained in the study presented, and 

 a description by H. Osvald of investigations on the development of the root 

 systems of the plants under the conditions of the experiment. 



A special installation was provided in which the height of the water table in 

 two duplicate series of plats was maintained at 20, 40, GO, 80, and 100 cm. below 

 the surface of the soil. One of the series was devoted to studies with a bog 

 soil and the other to experiments with a sphagnous moss soil. A mixture of 

 clover and grass seed was sown and the behavior of the different species is 

 briefly noted. The work was in progress from 1912 to 191G. 



The two types of soils gave quite different results. In the bog soil the height 

 of the water table had but little effect on yield, as the roots of the meadow plants 



