718 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



prairie soil occupies 72.6 per cent of the area of tlie county, the black clay loam 

 of the same class 14.5 per cent, and the yellow-gray silt loam of the upland 

 .timber soils 6.2 per cent. It is emphasized that the supplies of plant food in 

 these soils are extremely limited when measured by the needs of large crop 

 yields. " The most significant facts revealed by the investigation of the 

 McLean County soils are the lack of limestone and the low phosphorous content 

 of the common prairie soil and of the most extensive timber type." 



Nova Scotia soils, F, T. Shutt (Canada Expt. Farms Rpts. 1914, PP- 91-96). — 

 Physical and chemical analyses of eleven samples of typical soils of Nova 

 Scotia are reported. 



The distribution of the climatic soil types in Germany, H. Stkemme (In 

 Branca Festschrift. Berlin: Borntrdger Bros., 1914, p. 16; abs. in Zenthl. Agr. 

 CTiem., 44 {1915) , No. 1, p. 6) . — Comparative studies of the existing soil types of 

 Germany are reported. 



There occur in Germany, in addition to the excessively wet swamp and moor 

 soils, podzol and related soils of medium dampness and black soils of only 

 moderate dampness. The swampy soils generally occur where the annual rain- 

 fall exceeds 23 or 24 in., while the podzol and black soils occur in regions 

 having an annual rainfall of less than about 20 in. Chernozem soils occur in 

 the far inland regions south of Breslau and Halle and podzol and related types 

 in Pomerania in the neighborhood of the Baltic. In the podzol soil regions the 

 humus lime soils (rendzine) from the limestone mountains are known to be 

 endodynamorphic soils, as noted by Glinka (E. S. R., 31, p. 719). Such soils 

 with the iron horizon very evident, just beginning, and entirely absent are de- 

 scribed. Certain so-called black soils in East and West Prussia and other 

 localities, which occur as moor marl in basin formations, are said to be partly 

 humus lime soils. In Schleswig and west and south Germany the character- 

 istic formation of the present soil types is obliterated by fossil soils. 



The m^aterial carried by the streams of the Alps and the Pyrenees, A. 

 MtJNTz and E. Laine (Compt. Rend. Acad. 8ci. [Paris], 156 (1913), No. 11, pp. 

 848-851). — In connection with investigations of the water resources of the Alps 

 and Pyrenees mountains with reference to the possibilities for irrigation and 

 water power development, studies were made of the silt carried by the streams 

 and of their silt transporting capacities to determine the possibilities of silting 

 of canals and reservoirs. Fifteen observation stations were established in the 

 Alps and eight in the Pyrenees. 



The results show that the streams of the Alps carry much more silt and 

 matter in solution than the Pyrenees' streams. The Alps' streams, while rela- 

 tively clear in the winter, are subject to extreme floods during the spring and 

 summer, at which times they carry enormous quantities of silt. They also 

 carry large and variable amounts of lime in solution at different seasons, these 

 being greatest in the winter when the water is low and clear and least in spring 

 and summer. The streams of the Pyrenees, in which glaciers are practically 

 absent, are relatively clear the year around and carry silt in appreciable quan- 

 tities only during occasional floods due to heavy rains. The proportion of dis- 

 solved matter, principally lime, is much less in these waters than in the Alps' 

 waters and is not subject to such wide variations. 



The abundant carrying of material by the streams of the Alps is attributed 

 to the comparatively recent formation of these mountains. The Pyrenees, on 

 the other hand, are of much more ancient formation and have undergone wash- 

 ing an infinitely longer time, so that their streams are clearer. 



The importance of the results from the standpoint of the construction of 

 dams, caiials, and reservoirs is pointed out. 



