1916] SOILS — FERTILIZERS. 623 



of neutral salts, to remove flocculating agents. The loss of calcium and magne- 

 sium from the soil bears little or no relation to the flocculation appearing in 

 salt-treated, water-washed soils except in so far as it may be a measure of the 

 absorbed sodium. The presence of the OH-ion does not seem to be an essential 

 factor in the diffusion of salt-treated, water-washed soils. Na2C03 and NaOH 

 produce markedly different effects on suspensions of the soil. The acid ion of 

 the salt is not an important factor in the deflocculation phenomena following 

 the washing out of salts from soils. Sodium, potassium, and ammonium seem 

 to produce the colloidal silicate complex when salts of these metals are applied 

 to soils, while calcium does not. Dilute solutions of acids and salts possess floc- 

 culating powers on suspensions of the soil. It is not essential in every case to 

 wash all of the salt out in order to bring about diffusion." 



How much plant food is removed from soils by crops and drainage 

 water? H. von Feilitzen {Svenska Mosskulturfor. Tidskr., 29 {1915), No. S, 

 pp. 193-210, fig. 1). — Lysimeter experiments on swamp soil and so-called white- 

 moss soil are reported, which showed that the losses of nutritive constituents in 

 drainage water were much smaller in pastures than in cereal fields and were 

 greater in swamp than in white-moss soil. 



The chemical composition of the hay from the two soils also differed. The 

 swamp hay contained more potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen than the 

 white-moss soil hay, both on fertilized and unfertilized plats. The lime content 

 was greater in the hay from the limed white-moss soil. 



White-moss soil, when completely fertilized, became enriched in potash and 

 phosphoric acid but lost nitrogen in the drainage water. Swamp soil, when com- 

 pletely fertilized, retained phosphoric acid but lost potash and nitrogen. The 

 percentage composition of the soil was, however, but little affected. 



Calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium in the drainage water from 

 limed and unlimed soil, T. L. Lyon and J. A. Bizzell (Jour. Amer. Soc. 

 Agron., 8 {1916), No. 2, pp. 81-87). — Experiments conducted at Cornell Univer- 

 sity with limed and unlimed clay-loam soil, growing corn, oats, wheat, timothy, 

 and clover, are reported, in which the drainage water resulting from natural 

 rainfall was analyzed twice yearly for five years. 



It was found that "of the bases, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, 

 the last named is most firmly held in the soil used. ... An application of 

 burned lime corresponding to the lime requirement of the surface foot of soil 

 was not accompanied by any appreciable increase in the quantity of potassium 

 present in the drainage water, [and] did not result in any greater quantity of 

 potassium in the crops raised on the limed soil than in those that grew on the 

 soil that received no lime. So far as could be ascertained . . . there was no 

 liberation of potassium effected by the lime treatment. Magnesium was the only 

 one of the four bases that appeared in larger quantity in the drainage from the 

 limed than from the unlimed soil. The calcium-magnesium ratio is much 

 broader in the drainage water from this soil than in the soil itself. The effect 

 of an annual application of potassium sulphate at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre 

 was to increase materially the quantity of calcium and magnesium in the drain- 

 age water, but not to increase the quantity of potassium. The sum total 

 quantity of the bases calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium was less in 

 the drainage water of the soil that received an application of lime than in 

 the water from the unlimed soil." 



The loss of sulphur in drainage water, T. L. Lyon and J. A. Bizzell 

 {Jour. Amer. Soc. Agron., 8 {1916), No. 2, pp. 88-91). — Experiments conducted 

 at Cornell University on a clay loam soil growing five crops, in which the 

 drainage water for four years was analyzed for sulphates, are reported. 

 64968°— 1& 3 



