SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 2 2 5 



Weather forecasts in the service of agriculture, I ! aoHW \v\ [Mitt. Deut. Landw. 

 Oesell, 20 (1905), No. ?9,pp. ?£6-227,fig. t).— The postal-card method of distributing 

 forecasts practiced by the Royal Saxon Meteorological Institute is described and 

 commended. 



Fake weather forecasts, F. .1. Walz I Pop. Sci. Mo., . No. 6, pp. 60S 



\ review of various popular and fallacious methods of weather forecasting. 



On the significance of Bacillus coli in potable waters, II. Vi\< ent i Ann. Inst, 

 fbtteur, 19(1905), No. ',. pp. :■'•■'• ?48). — The author refutes Lanier's contention thai 

 it is not possible to judge of the value of a water by the number of micro-organisms 

 present and that special methods for determining -imply Bacillus coli or the bacilli of 

 putrefaction are not necessary. He maintains, on the contrary, that bacteriological 

 analysis is of great value in determining the quality of water. 



The delicate methods \\ nich have been devised for the numerical determination of 

 /;. coli, tlic organisms of putrefaction, or pathogenic germs, particularly tin- typhoid 

 bacillus, have been of great importance in determining the efficiency of methods of 

 purification of waters, in improving sanitary conditions of cities, and in preventing i >r 

 arresting epidemics, especially those of typhoid fever. 



SOILS FERTILIZERS. 



The principal soil areas of Iowa, W. II. Stevenson, G. I. Cheistie, and 0. W. 

 Wn.i.cov i Towa Sta. Bui. 82, pp. 878-894, figs. 8, map 1).— This bulletin gives the 

 results of investigations of the principal soil area- of Iowa, based upon the work of 

 the Iowa Geological Survey on the glacial geology of the state. 



It is stated that "all the soils of Iowa without exception. are, in respect to their 

 origin, referable to one or the other of four easily distinguishable classes, which are 

 to be found in plainly marked areas." These classes, which are mapped and fully 

 iescribed in the bulletin, include i l | geest, or soils resulting from the secular decay 

 of indurated rocks; (2) soils of tluviatile origin, or stream-made soils i alluvium); 

 (3) soils of aeolian origin, or wind-made soils (loess); and I 4 | soils of glacial origin, 

 or ice-made soils (drift or till); or, more briefly, geest. alluvium, loess, and till. 



The loess and till are the most important of these classes. "Geest occurs chiefly 

 in \Yinneshiek, Allamakee. Fayette, Clayton, Delaware. Dubuque, and Jackson 

 counties, and only very rarely and in trivial amounts in other parts of the State." 

 Alluvial soils or "bottom lands" "occur all along the courses of every important 

 stream in Iowa. The Missouri, Hig Sioux, Nishnabotna, Nodaway, Grand, Chariton, 

 Dee Moines, Skunk. Iowa. Cedar, Wapsipinicon, and Mississippi rivers and their 

 tributaries have bottoms of varying widths." They occupy not over 6 percent of 

 the total area of the Stateand when properly drained are generally highly productive. 



Practically all of the remaining area of the state is occupied by loess and drift 

 (till) soils. "There are three distinct areas of loess soils, the Missouri l< 

 irestern Iowa, the Mississippi loess in eastern Iowa, and the loess of southern Iowa." 

 The loess soils as found in [owa are generally light colored (various shades of huff 

 jpnd yellow, sometimes be< ting whitish), fine-grained, hut porous and as a rule 



fertile. 



"There are three distinct areas of glacial till, the Wisconsin, the h>wan. and the 

 Kan-an. In their relations to agriculture these are typically characteristic of the 

 age of the till." The drift (till) soils differ somewhat with their age. The \\ 

 sin drift "i- principally a black loam, sandy in some places and clayey in others. 

 It is generally rich in the elements of plant food and frequently contains small 

 bowlders of various materials, including granite. . . . The soils of the Eowan drift 

 sheet do not differ very much from those of the Wisconsin; peal hogs and alkali are 

 very much rarer." The Kansas drift occurs in only limited areas on hillsides and 



