SOILS — FERTILIZERS. 513 



pbate of ammonia or nitrate of soda, superphosphate or basic slag. Chemical 

 analysis will often reveal particular deficiencies and the specific [need] for 

 phosphates or potash, but to do this with any certainty the composition and 

 behavior of soils of that type should be known from a previous soil survey." 



Soils of the Hartford quadrangle, S. C. Jones (Ky. Geol. Survey Bui. 20, 

 1912, pp. 26-33). — The typical soils of this area, which lies wholly within Ohio 

 County, are briefly described. Of the 247 square miles included in the area 

 172.19 square miles contain residual soils and 74.81 square miles transported 

 soils. Five types are recognized — yellow silt loam (hilly and undulating), 

 yellowish gray silt loam (bottom), gray silt loam (river bottom), and yellow 

 clay loam (river bottom). More than half of the area is covered with hilly 

 yellow silt loam soils. These wash badly and are under cultivation to a very 

 limited extent. The work on these soils was done in cooperation with the 

 state experiment station. 



A botanical cross section of northern Mississippi, with notes on the influ- 

 ence of soil on vegetation, R. M. Harper (Bui. Torrey Bot. Cluh, J/O (1913), 

 No. 8, pp. 377-399, pis. 2). — It is stated that the correlations between geology 

 and vegetation are more obvious in Mississippi " than in any other part of the 

 coastal plain, unless it is in western Alabama." Studying more particularly 

 the relation of the growth of evergreens to the composition of soils, it was 

 found " that in the regions under consideration the evergreens can be correlated 

 with potash just about as well as with lime, evergreens being scarcest in the 

 soils richest in potash. This relation is still more apparent when we compare 

 northern Mississippi, where nearly all the soils are pretty well supplied with 

 potash, with Florida, where soil conditions are very different. Florida has a 

 larger proportion of evergreens than any other State in the Union, and at the 

 same time its soils are poorest in potash, though fairly well supplied with lime." 



Economic products of the Virginia coastal plain, T. L. Watson (Va. Gcol. 

 Survey Bui. If, 1912, pp. 223-272, pis. 3). — This is a brief discussion of clays, 

 sand and gravel, diatomaceous earth, greensand marl, calcareous (shell) marl, 

 mineral paint, iron ore, building stone, peat soils, and underground waters 

 occurring in this region. It is stated that some of the deposits of these materials 

 are of very considerable economic value. Some of them have been and are still 

 being utilized, while others have scarcely commenced to be developed. 



" The deposits of clay, sand and gravel, diatomaceous earth, calcareous (shell) 

 and greensand marls are very extensive and are generally of good grade. The 

 extensive deposits of calcareous (shell) marl and clay, located directly on deep 

 tidewater, ofTer large possibilities in the location of plants for the manufacture 

 of Portland cement." 



Analyses of the greensand marls are reported and their use for fertilizing 

 purposes is briefly discussed. 



The salt marshes of the north coast of Porto Rico, F. W. Zerban (Porto 

 Rico Sugar Producers' Sta. Bui. 4 [English Ed.], 1913, pp. 42). — A study of the 

 chemical composition of these soils, a brief account of which has already been 

 referred to (E. S. R., 29, p. 17), is reported in detail in this bulletin with a 

 discussion of the relation of the composition of the soil to the production of 

 sugar cane and to methods of reclamation or improvement. The samples were 

 taken from swamps, which are typical of considerable areas of such soils along 

 the north coast of Porto Rico. 



As a rule the humus surface soil tjrpical of such areas rests upon and is more 

 or less mixed with a subsoil of limestone or marl. The surface soil is more or 

 less impregnated with saline matter in which sodium chlorid, mixed with 

 smaller but varying amounts of bicarbonates and sulphates of calcium, mag- 



