620 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



WATER— SOILS. 



On the movement of water and salt solutions in soils, S. Krav- 



Kov {Jow. Landw., J^8 {1900), No. 3, pp. 209-222).— The movement 

 of water was studied with diluvial sand (subsoil) in glass tubes 3 meters 

 long and 3.6 cm. in diameter. The downward movement of water 

 was the most rapid, the lateral movement next, and upward capillary 

 movement slowest. The rapidity and height of capillary rise was 

 almost in inverse ratio to the moisture content of the soil, /. e., the 

 drier the soil the more rapid and the higher the rise. The greater the 

 depth of water maintained over the surface of the soil the more rapid 

 the percolation. 



In the experiments with salt solutions, tenth-normal, fifth-normal, 

 and normal solutions of potassium and sodium phosphates (KgHPO^, 

 NagHPOJ, potassium and ammonium sulphates, sodium nitrate, 

 chlorid, and carbonate were used in glass tubes 50 cm. long and 2 cm. 

 in diameter filled to a height of 45 cm. with soil (421 gm.). The solu- 

 tions were maintained at a depth of 0.5 cm. over the surface of the 

 soil and the ratepf percolation noted. It was found in the experiments 

 with diluvial sand that the salts which are more readily absorbed b\^ 

 soils percolated more rapidly than those which are not absorbed, 

 although the differences were very small. In experiments with loamy 

 sand it was found that the addition of any of the salts lessened the 

 capillary rise of water, the nonabsorbable salts being more active in 

 this respect than the absorbable. Those salts which tended to loosen 

 the soil had the least retarding effect on the movement of water in the 

 soil. 



Experiments on the effect of various salts applied in solid form gave 

 generalh' inconclusive results. It was observed, however, that gypsum 

 and calcium carbonate hastened the capillary rise of water. 



Muck experiments, J. D. Towar {^lichigan Sta. Bui. 181, pj). 157- 

 ISIf^Jigs. 5). — This is an account of experiments during 1898 and 1899 

 on tenth and twentieth acre plats of swamp or muck land on the station 

 farm to test the effect of different methods of fertilizing, as follows: 

 Applications of leached ashes, 5 tons per acre in 1898; unleached wood 

 ashes, 1 ton per acre; sand, 1 in. thick over the surface in 1898; air- 

 slaked lime, 2 tons per acre in 1898; commercial fertilizer, containing 

 2.53 per cent of ammonia, 11.24 per cent of available and 0.26 per cent 

 of insoluble phosphoric acid, and 1.61 per cent of potash, 400 lbs. 

 per acre in 1898, 200 lbs. per acre in 1899; a home-mixed fertilizer, 

 having approximately the same composition as the commercial ferti- 

 lizer, 355.2 lbs. per acre in 1898, 170.6 lbs. per acre in 1899; stable 

 manure, 20 loads per acre in 1898; nitrate of soda, 400 lbs. per acre 

 in 1899; dissolved phosphate rock, 800 lbs. per acre in 1899, and 

 muriate of potash, 400 lbs. per acre in 1899. Three plats received no 



