PERIODICAL LITERATURE 759 



SOIL, WATER, AND CLIMATE 



Niklas discusses the construction of a general 

 Sumuiarx of soil nnj) for the country, based on the prevaihng 

 Bavarian crops grown in each district, which he states is 



Soil Conditions a fairly reliable basis since agricultural practice 

 through centuries has tended to select the crops 

 best adapted to the different soils. The same is more or less true of 

 forest crops. Complete soil surveys are lacking and can not be made 

 in a reasonably short time. He states that census figures on crop 

 yields are extremely inaccurate, but that data on crop areas are quite 

 accurate. Soils may be classified according to climatic conditions, ac- 

 cording to geological origin, or according to texture. For practical 

 purposes the latter classification is the best, both for agriculture and 

 for forestry. The 434 districts of Bavaria are classified in 7 groups, 

 according to whether the predominating soils are (1) very heavy 

 (wheat, meadow, no barley — 13 per cent of the total area of Ba- 

 varia) ; (3) heavy (wheat, barley — 12 per cent) ; (3) medium (opti- 

 mum barley — 14 per cent) ; (4) heavy and light about equal (all kinds 

 of crops) ; and (5) light and medium (oats, rye, some barley) — to- 

 gether 17 per cent; (6) light (rye, oats — 31 per cent) ; (7) meadow 

 soils due to climatic conditions regardless of texture, 13 per cent. 

 Among the uses for such a map are enumerated : a basis for land 

 settlement policy ; shows regions adapted for certain crops ; useful 

 in organizing farm work and the furnishing of seed, labor, machinery, 

 and teams ; helpful in studying occurrence and spread of animal and 

 plant pests, in studying relations between climate and soils, and be- 

 tween social and economic conditions and soils. W. N. S. 



Niklas, H. Ubersicht i'lber Baycrns Bodenvcrhdltnissc . Forstwiss. Centralbl. 

 42: 123-L35. 1920. 



Rubner discusses Cajander's theory that forest 

 Vegetation as sites can be classed into a very few types, based 

 Forest Site on key plants, such as Oxalis. Vaccinium myrtil- 



Indicators lus and Calluna, regardless of elevation, soil con- 



ditions, latitude, or other factors, and that the 

 growth of the same species within one type wherever located is about 

 the same, but is very different in different types. Rubner does not 

 believe that such general classilication, even with ihc sul)types Cajan- 



