5(>8 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Tlic aiitliors ,«lio\v that it is comparatively easy to dctcrniine the perchlorates and 

 associated dilorates in commercial nitrate of soda. It is necessary simply to deter- 

 mine (1) the chlorin in the original sample and (2) the total chlorin in the calcined 

 nitrate. The difference corresponds to the chlorin in the form of chlorates and per- 

 chlorates. By treatment of the solution left after the determination of chlorin in the 

 original sample with lead nitrite the chlorin corresponding to chlorates is obtained. 

 Nitrate of soda containing i>erchlorates as a rule contains little chlorate. Commer- 

 cial nitrate always contains a certain amount of potash. It is recommended, there- 

 fore, that a complete analysis of nitrate of soda shall include determinations of chlo- 

 rates, perchlorates, and potash, the chlorates and perchlorates, however, being 

 calculated as sodium salts. 



The utilization of tlie nitrogen of the air, A. Wiesler {Oesterr. Chcm. Zt</., 6 

 [1903), No. 19, pp. 434, 435). — This article discusses the fixation of free nitrogen by 

 means of calcium carbide. 



Fertilizer experiments with, carbide nitrogen ( calcium cyanamid), P. Bolin 

 (Landtniannen, I4 {1903), No. 39, pp. 609-611). — The experiments were conducted 

 on a clay soil, barley and oats being grown on the plats. The effect of the fertilizer 

 was found to be 60 to 70 per cent of that of nitrate of soda, according to the quantities 

 api>lied which varied from 150 to 225 kg. per hectare (1.34 to 801 lbs. per acre). — 



F. W. WOLL. 



Experiments on methods of applying fertilizers { Vcrslay. Proefstat. Suikerriet, 

 West Java, 1903, pp. 108-111). — Forty -four samples from a soil top-dressed with 

 nitrate of soda and sul2>hate of ammonia, tested 10, 25, and 40 days after the applica- 

 tion, showed that the distribution of the nitrogen in the soil from this source was 

 mainly confined to a surface layer 5 cm. in depth. Where sulphate of ammonia had 

 been applied in small depressions made into the soil, the distribution of this sub- 

 stance in a horizontal direction 10 days after the application varied from 6 to 9 cm. 

 These samples showed only traces of nitrate nitrogen in the surface layer of the soil, 

 but samples taken 15 days later plainly showed its presence. The lower layers of the 

 soil showed neither ammonia nor nitrates and not until 40 days after the application 

 and after a rain of 100 mm. was nitrate detected 30 cc. below the surface. 



Culture trials with, a fertilizer manufactured from beet-molasses refuse, 

 H. G. SoDERBAUM (A". Laudt. Akad. Handl. och Tidskr., 42 {1903), No. 2, pp. 85-94). — 

 The fertilizer experimented with was manufactured by the Wenck process, in which 

 the refuse from the beet molasses, after this has been used for the manufacture of 

 sugar or alcohol, is mixed with calcium carbonate and dried. During the drying a 

 definite quantity of sulphuric acid is added. The resulting product forms a solid, 

 pulverizable mass containing 10 to 12 per cent of potash, 3 to 4 per cent of nitrogen 

 (largely in organic form), and about 0.1 per cent of phosphoric acid. 



Experiments with the fertilizer were conducted in glass or zinc cylinders of 0.3 

 square meter surface, filled with sandy soil. The fertilizer was applied to barley 

 oats, potatoes, and sugar beets, being compared in different trials with sulphate of 

 potash, kainit, 37 per cent potash salt, or nitrate of soda. The yields of barley with 

 the molasses fertilizer were similar to those obtained with sulphate of potash, whether 

 much or little potash was added, the maximum returns being obtained wdth applica- 

 tions of 200 kg. per hectare (189 lbs. \}QV acre) of potash in the form of sulphate of 

 potash and of 300 kg. of molasses-fertilizer potash. 



In the oat experiments, in which the molasses fertilizer was compared with nitrate 

 of soda, the former gave a decided increase in yield over that obtained in the cylin- 

 ders which did not receive any fertilizer, but the increase was only about half as 

 large, on the average, as that obtained in the nitrate of soda cylinders, and the 

 effectt was somewhat more pronounced in the yield of grain than in that of straw. 

 In the potato experiments the molasses fertilizer gave somewhat better results than 

 corresponding quantities of kainit, without depressing the starch content of the 

 7)otatoes. 



