428 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 41 



showed a greater increase in total vegetable matter produced than did the 

 sulphuric-acid-treated plats as compared with the checks." 



" The results so far obtained lead to the general conclusion that sulphur 

 and sulphuric acid have a decidedly beneficial effect upon the soil flora." 



Lime requirements as determined by the plant and by the chemist, B. L. 

 Hartwell, F. K. Pkjiber, and L. P. Howard (Soil 8ci., 7 (1919), No. 4, pp. 279- 

 282). — Experiments conducted at the Rhode Island Experiment Station are 

 reported in which surface soil, described in a previous and relaterl report 

 (E. S. R., 32, p. 62^), was limed in amounts varying from 378 to 4,000 lbs. 

 of calcium oxid per acre and planted to beets and lettuce. The basic nutri- 

 ents were brought to optimum. The lime requirement of the soil was deter- 

 mined by the ammonia and Veitch methods before planting. 



It was found that *' in general after maximum crops had been attained 

 by liming the soil still showed a lime requirement of about 5,000 lbs. In fact, 

 the lettuce, although a crop which is very sensitive to ' soil acidity,' was de- 

 pressed in growth when an application equivalent to 4,000 lbs. of calcium oxid 

 was made to the limed nitrate of soda soil, and the subsequent lime require- 

 ments thereby reduced to 2,800. A carbon-dioxid determination made in 

 this soil showed that not more than about 10 per cent of the added lime 

 remained in carbonate at the end of the experiment. . . . The limed 

 nitrate-of-soda soil had a lime requirement of 3,700 by the ammonia method, 

 and yet not much advantage was derived from liming. When about this 

 amount was added for lettuce there was less crop than where smaller amounts 

 were used. And yet the Veitch method yielded even higher results than the 

 ammonia method." 



It is thought that the " elimination of the effect of the aluminum in acid 

 soils seems likely to prove of more importance than the neutralization of the 

 acidity, and attention should be given to methods of determining active alumi- 

 num while developing those for soil acidity." 



An artificial fertilizer, A. Gautier and P. Clatjsmann {Sci. Amer. Sup. 88 

 (1919), No. 2275, p. 95). — Pot experiments with plants grown on (1) a charcoal 

 soil to which no fluorin had been added, (2) an artificially fluorated charcoal 

 soil, and (3) ordinary garden soil showed that " of 12 species cultivated 

 under similar conditions but with the addition or nonaddition of fluorid, the 

 influence of the fluorin was favorable to 7 (cress, cabbage, California poppy, 

 spinach, viper's bugloss, spurrey, and hemp) ; exerted no effect upon 3 (con- 

 volvulus, onion, and rye) ; while it produced inferior crops in 3 (sweet peas, 

 chick-peas and centaury)." 



The.se results are not considered entirely conclusive owing to the small size 

 of the experiment and to the fact that potassium fluorid was used. Field 

 experiments using other fluorids are to be reported later. 



Fertilizers in Cochin China, P. Bussy (Bui. Ayr. Inst. Sci. Saigon [Cochin 

 China'], 1 (1919), No. 2, pp. JfO-^1). — The author discusses the fertilizers of 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral origin which are adapted for use in Cochin 

 China from the standpoint of availability, and gives analyses of some of the 

 more important types, including fish waste, oil cake, bone meal, green manure, 

 stable manure, bat guano, natural phosphate, and the common nitrogenous and 

 potasslc mineral fertilizers. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



The biological normal spectrum, C. Raunki.«u (A'. Danske Vidensk. Selsk., 

 Biol. Meddel, 1 (1918), No. 4, pp. 17). — This is an attempt to express mathe- 

 matically the net results of conditions affecting the attainment of stability in 



