soil. PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND MICROBIOLOGY 



1739 



break of war those left on the land were deprived of all leisure, and the 

 number of pupils fell to 54 in 1914-1915 and to 34 in 1915-1916. 



At the beginning of each month from October to April every member 

 of the course receives instructions for work, in the carrying out of which 

 he is encouraged to get what help he can from his parents or from a local 

 "monitor" appointed by the Union. The work includes: 



i) A course of reading for which books are provided in local li- 

 braries or obtainable from the Union at a very low cost. 



2) The setting up of a small experimental ground where each pupil 

 can test for himself the effect of manurial dressings, of early or late 

 sowing, etc. 



3) The carrying out of simple experiments such as the germination of 

 seeds, the relationship between the density of potatoes and their starch 

 content, the flocculation of clay by lime, the effect of sodium nitrate on 

 tillering and straw production, the topping of sugar beets, the washing of 

 vine poles. 



4) Excursions organised by the monitor to neighbouring farms where 

 the pupils are expected to take notes on the crops, on the live stock, on the 

 implements, etc. 



5) The writing of papers in answer to questions on such subjects 

 as the nature of the local soils, the crops of the districts and their industrial 

 uses, the treatment of seed, the planting of fruit trees, etc. This branch of 

 the work involves personal effort on the part of the pupil who will have 

 to consult his books in order to find an answer to the questions. 



6) The working out of sums on: the price of wheat per given volume 

 from its density and price per quintal (220 lbs); the value of a manure heap, 

 given its composition and the value of each constituent; the price of ra- 

 tions for maintenance or fattening; etc. 



Every month the pupils send in their work which must include a re- 

 port of their excursions and of the progress of their experiments. The 

 papers are corrected and returned, the names of the pupils getting the 

 highest number of marks being published in the monthly sheet of instructions 

 together with remarks of a general nature which apply to all members of 

 the course. When specially good papers are sent in these may even be 

 reproduced in the montlily sheet. 



CROPS AND CULTIVATION. 



1256 - A Detailed Study of Effects of Climate on Important Properties of Soils.— 



I^IPMAN C. B., and Waynick D. D., (Laboratory of Soil Chemistry and Bacteriology, Uni- 

 versity of California) in Soil Science, Vol. I, No. i, pp. 5-48. New Brunswick, N. J., 1916. 

 In 1908 a set of experiments were started tmder the joint auspices of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations of Kansas and California. Two soil blocks, 5 ft. square and 3 ft. 

 deep were moved from each station to the other two stations and placed 

 in position as neatly as possible in the original soil layers. A similar block 



SOIL PHYSICS, 



CHEMISTRY 



AND 



MTCROBIOLO GY 



