1917] SOILS FERTILIZERS. 815 



facturing this fertilizer efficiently on a commercial scale. The question also 

 arises wliether, when standardized, it can be placed on the market in a 

 sufliciently concentrated form and at a price low enough to bring it within the 

 reach of large users of fertilizers." 



The industrial chemist and the fertilizer crisis, H. C. Lint {Chem. Engin. 

 and Manfr., 25 (1917), No. 3, pp. 86-89). — The author discusses the fertilizer 

 problem from the standpoint of the industrial chemist, and discusses peat and 

 muck as sources of organic ammoniates. 



The effect of ammonium sulphate on soil acidity, F. E. Allison and R. C. 

 Cook {Soil ScL, 3 {1911). Xo. 6. pp. 507-512, fig. 1) . — Experiments conducted at 

 Rutgers College are reported in which it was found that " the increases in 

 acidity in five greenhouse soils and a quartz sand receiving no nitrogenous 

 fertilizer were practically the same during the course of a year whether these 

 soils were cropped or kept in fallow. The quartz sand showed the smallest 

 increase in acidity and a loam soil the largest, but there was no relation be- 

 tween the acid accumulation and the soil texture. The increases in acidity in 

 the presence of ammonium sulphate were markedly higher than in the check 

 pots. The partial removal of the nitrogen added decreased the acidity to an 

 appreciable extent in the quartz sand and in the heavy clay soil, increased it in 

 the loam, and left it practically the same in the other three soils. The average 

 increase in acidity in the soils used, exclusive of the quartz sand, was 4,140 lbs. 

 of calcium oxid per 3,000,000 lbs. of soil where no crop was grown, and 

 4,240 lbs. where four crops of buckwheat were harvested. On the average, the 

 increase in acidity produced by ammonium sulphate in greenhouse pots was 

 about 80 lbs. of calcium oxid for 100 lbs. of ammonium sulphate applied." 



The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, D. Florentin {G^nie Civil, 70 {1917), 

 Nos. 20, pp. 319-322; 21, pp. 333-337; 22, pp. 353-355; 23, pp. 369-372; 24, PP- 

 384-386, figs. 14). — This article reviews recent processes and discoveries relating 

 to the industrial fixation of atmospheric nitrogen for agricultural and indus- 

 trial use. 



Some conditions affecting the value of calcium cyanamid as a manure, 

 T. D. :^.rosscEOP {Jour. Agr. Sci. [England], 8 {1917), No. 2, pp. 178-181) .—BeU- 

 jar and pot experiments with lettuce, turnips, barley, and wheat to determine 

 the cause of the injurious influence of calcium cyanamid led to the conclusion 

 that " any injurious effect on germination when calcium cyanamid is used is due 

 to the formation of free ammonia produced at first more rapidly than it can be 

 absorbed by the soil." It was further found that the injurious action dis- 

 appeared eight days after the manure had been applied to a moist soil. " Any 

 danger to nonoily seeds or those with a thin testa can be avoided by applying the 

 calcium cyanamid a week before sowing the seeds." 



The value of Thomas slag phosphate for neutralizing soil as well as for 

 supplying phosphorus, B. L. Haetwell, F. R. Pesiber, and S. C. Damon 

 {Rhode Island Sta. Bui. 171 {1917), pp. 3-34, pl- 1 ) .—Experiments are reported 

 the main object of which was to help furnish a basis for the adoption of analyti- 

 cal methods suited to the inspection of the various grades of Thomas slag 

 phosphate from the standpoint of their agricultural value. 



In experiments with barley, beets, and lettuce to determine the value of 

 Thomas slag phosphates from different sources for neutralizing acid soils, using 

 chemically pure, precipitated calcium carbonate as a .standard of comparison, 

 it was found that the calcium carbonate did not give results markedly superior 

 to those given by the slags with the first two crops. " With the lettuce, however, 

 the conditions were such that, for about the same amount of calcium oxid 



