SOILS PEETILIZERS, 5l7 



Nature of tlie soils of Morocco {Bui. Mens. Off, Renseig. Agr. [Paris}, 7 

 (190S), Xo. 5, pp. 56'i~566). — The soils of Fez are brieflj' considered in this 

 article. They are grouped as cultivated soils and pasture soils, there being . 

 several subdivisions of each group. Chemical analyses of typical samples of red 

 and back clay and sandy soils are reported. 



Report of Adzhibay Experiment Field for 1904 to 1906, D. P. Shushak 

 (Adzhihaislcoe Opuitnoc Pole. Otchct za 190-i, 1005, i 1906. Simpheropol, 

 Russia, 1907, pp. 91; rev. in Zliur. Opuitn. Agron. [Rnss. Jour. E.ipt. Landw.], 

 8 {1907), Xo. 6, pp. 709-7Ji).— Observations on the influence of fallow, ferti- 

 lizers, and cultivation on the physical, chemical, and biological properties and 

 processes of the soil are recoi'ded in this report. 



On the rate of some phenomena of weathering, P. Zemyatchenskii {Trav. 

 Soc. Imp. Xat. St. Pctersb., Sect. Geol. ct ilin., 3-'/ (1906), Xo. 5, pp. 181-190; 

 abs. in Zliur. Opuitn. Agron. [Russ. Jour. Expt. Landw.], 8 (1907), No. 6, 

 p. 707). — The author observed that in certain ruins in Austria there has 

 formed from limestone during 500 to 600 years a soil layer 10 cm. thick with 4.4 

 per cent of humus, while on the adjoining natural deposits of limestone the 

 soil layer has a thickness of 38 to 40 cm. with 7.7 per cent of humus. On the 

 basis of the rate of the formation of the soil on the ruins, 2,400 years should 

 have been required for the formation of the 38 to 40 cm. soil layer. On a 

 fortress wall of limestone in the Crimea, which has been exposed to weathering 

 during 600 years, a soil lajer 10 cm. thick has formed. The adjoining lands 

 have a soil layer 65 cm. in thickness which should have accordingly required 

 3,600 years for its tVu'matiou. 



Some laboratory experiments on the capillarity of soils, N. Tulaykov 

 (Zhnr. Opuitn. Agron. [Rnss. Jour. Expt. Landic], 8 {1907), Xo. 6, pp. 629- 

 666, figs. S). — The experiments were made with soils from the Muganj steppe, 

 with the object of clearing up some details of the process by which the soils of 

 that region are turned into alkali lands. See also a previous note (E. S. R., 18, 

 p. 818). 



The capillary rise of water was studied in sandy soil from 7 different depths 

 and a clay loam from 5 different depths, the samples of soil after passing a 

 sieve with 2 mm. mesh being carefully packed in glass tubes 3 cm. in diameter 

 and 150 cm. long. In the case of a coarse-grained sandy soil the capillary rise 

 was rapid at first — 55 cm. during the first 24 hours. The water had reached 

 a height of 135 cm. in 513 days and was still slowly rising. In a fiue-grained 

 clay soil the water rose 52 cm. in the first 126 days and apparently became 

 stationary at 65 cm. after IJ years. In other soils of this kind, however, the 

 rise was considerably higher and did not become stationary after li years. 



In different layers of a sample of clay soil the height of rise of water during 

 the first 30 days was inversely proportional to the content of particles less than 

 0.005 mm. in diameter. The velocity of rise in the early stages was greater the 

 larger the soil particles, but it decreased in the course of time more rapidly in 

 coarse-grained than in fine-grained soils. Where the layers of soil were ar- 

 ranged in the tubes in the order in which they occurred in nature the rise of 

 water seemed to depend entirely upon the capillary capacity of the lowest layer 

 immediately in contact with the water supply. 



An experiment was begun on February 15, 1906, to study the relation of capil- 

 lary rise of water to movement of alkali salts. On November 28 the water had 

 risen to a height of 150 cm. and on January 4, 1907, needle-shaped white crystals 

 of salts were observed on the surface of the soil. On March 4 the tube was cut 

 into sections of 10 cm. in length and the salt content of each section determined. 

 The data thus obtained showed a gradual and moi-e or less complete transport 

 of the salts from the lower to the upper layers. Thus the first upper section 



