510 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.35- 



Some alkali soils in Ohio, J. W. Ames {Mo. Bui. Ohio Sta., 1 (1916), No. 7, 

 pp. 209, 210). — It is stated that the areas of alkali soils in Ohio are locatecl in 

 the southern part of Highland County and in Brown and Clermont counties. 

 Examination of the alkali soil in one case showed contents of magnesium, 

 aluminum, and sulphur equivalent to 4.27 per cent magnesium sulphate and 

 4.9 per cent aluminum sulphate. 



Soil survey of Frederick County, Virginia, J. B. R. Dickey and W. B. 

 Cobb (f7. S. Dept. Agr., Advance Sheets Field Operations Bur. Soils, 1914, PP- 

 4-8, pis. 4, fig. 1, map 1). — This survey, issued June 22, 1916, deals with the 

 soils of an area of 274,560 acres in northern Virginia, The county is divided 

 into valley and hill regions, the topography of the former being undulating to 

 rolling. The hill country has excellent surface drainage. 



The soils of the county fall into three broad general divisions. "The most 

 extensive division comprises the soils of the Appalachian Mountain province, 

 or the soils derived from shales and sandstones, while the most important 

 agriculturally is that group of soils found in the limestone valley province. 

 All the soils in these provinces are, with possibly one exception, residual. . . . 

 The third division includes the alluvial soils." Including rough stony land, 19 

 soil types of nine series are mapped, of which the Dekalb gravelly loam, Berks 

 shale loam, and Hagerstown clay loam cover 24.3, 18, and 10.1 per cent of the 

 area, respectively. 



The loess soils of the Nebraska portion of the transition region. — I, II, 

 F. J. Alway et ai.. {Soil Sci., 1 {1916), No. S, pp. 197-258, pis. S, figs. 6).— Two 

 papers are presented. 



I. Hygroscopicity, nitrogen, and organic carbon, F. J. Alway and G. R. Mc- 

 Dole. — Studies, made at the Nebraska Experiment Station, of the hygroscopicity 

 and nitrogen and organic carbon contents of 648 samples of soils, representing the 

 first six foot sections and the 12 inch sections of the surface foot from five vir- 

 gin prairie fields in each of six areas in Nebraska located between the Missouri 

 River and the western limit of the loess region in which the annual precipita- 

 tion decreases from more than 30 in. in the east to less than 20 in. in the west 

 and the relative aridity exhibits a still greater range, are reported. 



It was found that " the hygroscopicity, as expressed by the hygroscopic co- 

 efiicient, is strikingly uniform both from field to field in any one area and 

 from the surface downward in the same field. It is lowest in the two western 

 areas and highest in the two eastern. When the different levels from the in- 

 dividual fields are compared, the highest is found in either the second or the 

 third foot, in which two it is very similar. The minimum value is found in 

 the surface foot of the three eastern areas, and in the sixth of the three 

 western. . . . 



" The effect of the organic matter upon the hygroscopicity is too slight 

 to be detected, a change of even 100 per cent in the content of this being 

 without distinct influence. The nitrogen content in all the fields decreases 

 from the surface downward. In the surface foot ... it decreases steadily, 

 there being in general about half as much in the twelfth as in the first inch 

 section. The nitrogen in the surface foot decreases by about 50 per cent from 

 the most easterly to the most westerly fields, the difference being such as to 

 permit a definite grouping of the areas. The most easterly areas show as high a 

 content in the second foot as do the most westerly in the first. In this level 

 also there is a decrease from east to west, but it does not show the gradual 

 change exhibited in the first foot. In the . . . third to sixth foot . . . the dif- 

 ferences are small. . . . The organic carbon in the surface foot is very similar 

 in distribution to that of the nitrogen. The amount of the former is approxi- 



