812 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



gravelly soil. In the I'io<lnii)nt I'liiin the rork foruiatiou is crystallino, consist- 

 ing mainly of pranites. pnoisse.'^, and schists, from which are protluced soils 

 consisting mainly of gray sands of a gravelly nature, intersperseil with many 

 beds of red clay. In the Atlantic Coastal Plain the nx-ks are mainly cretaceous 

 formations and later sediments, and consist of unconsolidated clays, sands, and 

 marls. 



Composition of the soils of the different glacial drift sheets, F. J. Alway 

 (Minnesota Sta. Rpt. 191/f, pp. Jf8, 49). — It is stated that physical and chemical 

 analyses of samples of virgin soils from ten of the most southerly counties of 

 Minnesota so far indicate that the phosjjhorus and postasslum contents and the 

 physical properties affecting the supply of moisture do not exhibit radical 

 differences. As regards lime content, the soils of the eastern counties are 

 sharply distinguished from those of the western counties, as the former " carry 

 a vei*y small amount of lime throughout the first 3 ft., while the latter, with 

 certain exceptions, carry very large amounts in the third foot, considerable in 

 the second foot, and some of them large amounts even in the first foot." 



Soil survey of Orange County, New York, G. A. Cbabb and T. M. Mobbison 

 {New York Cornell Sta. BuJ. 351 {191.',), pp. 7.',7-800, fig. 1, map i).— This sur- 

 vey, made in cooperation with the Bureau of Soils of this Department, deals 

 with the soils of an area of 533,760 acres in southeastern New York, the topog- 

 raphy of which ranges from nearly flat or rolling to mountainous. The entire 

 county has been glaciated. The drainage is through the Hudson and Delaware 

 Rivers. 



The soils of the county are divided with reference to manner of formation 

 into glacial residual, reworked glacial, recent alluvial, cumulose, and cumulo- 

 alluvial .soils. Forty types are mapped, of which the Dutchess silt loam and 

 stony loam are the most extensive and most used for general farming and dairy- 

 ing. Muck is said to be the most valuable land in the county. Many of the 

 soils, especially the muck and other bottom soils, neetl drainage. 



The adaptation of soils to crops is recognized to some extent, but little effort 

 is made to develop systematic crop rotations. 



Soil analysis {Oregon 8ta. Rpt. 1913-14, p. 19). — Analyses of samples of 

 different types of soil occurring in the Hood River Valley revealed a marked 

 nitrogen deficiency in many cases and occasional deficiencies in potash and lime. 



The distribution of swamp land in the Kingdom of Bavaria {Uhersicht 

 iiher die VerteUung der Moore iin Konigreich Bayern. Munich: C. Gerber, 1913, 

 pp. 11, pi. 1). — Data and a map are given showing that the total swamp land 

 surface, including upland and lowland swamps, amounts to about 510,829 acres, 

 of which about 95,687 acres are under cultivation. 



Studies of an acid soil in Assam, A. A. Meggitt {Mem. Dept. Agr. India, 

 Chem. Ser., 3 {19U), No. 9, pp. 235-269, pis. 7; abs. in Jour. Chcm. Sac. [Lon- 

 don], 106 {1914), No. 626, I, p. 1212). — In field experiments with oats on an 

 acid alluvial light loam soil doficieut in calcium carbonate and phosphoric acid, 

 on which crops had repeatedly failed to survive the seedling stage, it was found 

 that the application of lime made it possible to grow crops on the soil and that 

 the lime was particularly effective if use<l in sufficient amounts to make the 

 surface soil neutral or slightly alkaline. 



Since applications of sodium, potassium, and magnesium carbonates also had 

 more or less the sjime favorable influence on crop growth as liming, the author 

 suggests that the beneficial effect may be attributable in part at least to neu- 

 tralizing of soil acidity or the supplying of lacking basic constituents in the 

 soil. 



Since laboratory examinations " had already disclosed positively the presence 

 of an acid organic compound, definitely toxic to jowar [Atulropogon sorffhutn] 



