718 EXPERIMENT STATIOIT RECORD. 



The soils of the county are divided into upland soils of glacial and loessial 

 origin, alluvial terrace soils, and first bottom soils derived from recent stream 

 deposits. Twelve soil types of eight series are mapped, of which the Carriug- 

 ton, Marshall, and Wabash silt loams cover 42.3, 24, and 19.7 per cent of the 

 area, respectively. The soils of the county are dark in color and rather high in 

 organic matter content. 



Soil survey of Oneida County, New York, E. T. Maxon, M. E. Cark, and 

 E. H. Ste\-kns (New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 362 {1915), pp. 59, pis. 2, figs. 2).— 

 This survey has been noted from the Field Operations of tlie Bureau of Soils of 

 this Department for 1913 (E. S. R., 34, p. 123). 



The soils and agricultural development of the Mohawk Valley, E. O. 

 FippiN (Cornell Countryman, 13 (1915), No. 3, pp. 203-206, figs. 2).— This 

 article briefly discusses the general characteristics of the soils of an area in 

 New York which occurs as a deep, broad trough between the Catskill and Adi- 

 rondack Mountains. The soils are of igneous, limestone, and shale origin and 

 are said to vary widely in productivity. 



Analyses of soils of different localities in the Belgian Congo, M. G. Batz 

 (Bull. Agr. Congo Bclgc, 5 (191.',), No. 4, pp. 601-629) .—Vhysical and chemical 

 analyses of 36 samples of soil from seven different districts of the Belgian 

 Congo arc reported and briefly discussed. 



Experiments at Oxford on the analysis of Belgian Congo soils, E. Lept^\e 

 (Bid. Agr. Congo Beige, 5 (191.'f), No. 4, pp. 630-65-'/, figs. 15). — Nine series of 

 pot culture experiments with Belgian Congo soils, which were so arranged as to 

 indicate the nutritive constituents relatively in minimum in the soils, showed 

 that these soils are lacking in nitrogen and available phosphoric acid. These 

 results are compared with chemical analyses of the same soils, showing the 

 defects in ordinary methods of chemical .soil analysis for indicating the fertilizer 

 needs of these soils. Further studies to perfect methods of chemical analysis 

 are in progress. 



A study of nitrification in Philippine soils, E. H. Paxganiban (Philippine 

 Agr. and Forester, If (1915), No. .}, pp. Sl-91). — Nitrification exiierimonts, using 

 ammonium sulphate and dried blood, on yautia, corn, banana, and cogon soils 

 and on a nursery soil, and experiments with the same soils on the influence on 

 nitrification of calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and sand, and of vary- 

 ing the soil moisture content are reported. 



Different soils, although similar chemically, showed different rates of nitri- 

 fication. A part of this difference is attributed to the influence of the present 

 and preceding crops on the bacterial flora of the soil. Some soils originally in 

 cogon grass that had grown crops continuously for three years gave a low rate 

 of nitrification amounting to from 5.55 to 7.84 mg. in a 100-gm. sample of soil 

 during four weeks' incubation at room temperature, in the presence of 16.34 

 mg. of nitrogen as dried blood. Two plats tested that had been but recently 

 brought under cultivation gave a much more rapid rate of nitrification, amount- 

 ing to from 8.27 to 14.71 mg. under the same conditions. The nitrification with 

 ammonium sulphate was about 50 per cent more rapid than that with dried 

 blood. Lime applietl at the rate of 15 tons per hectare (about 6 tons per acre) 

 increased the rate of nitrification by more than half, while rapid evaporation 

 during the time of incubation lowered the rate a great deal, and the addition 

 of 25 per cent sand to clay soil increased it as much as SO per cent. By steriliz- 

 ing the soil with heat, nitrification was almost entirely suppressed, even though 

 the soil was afterwards reinoculated. Magnesium carbonate interfered with 

 nitrate formation to as much as 40 per cent and caused nitrites to accumulate 

 in the soil. 





