86 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GEORGIA. [372] 



phere, and be, to a large extent, lost. A notable illustra- 

 tion of its absorbing power, and consequently deodorizing 

 power, is found in its use in the commode, or "earl 

 closet." 



Tainted meats may be sweetened by being buried for 

 a time in clay soil. 



Color and texture of soils exert a very decided influence 

 upon the absorption and radiation of heat, both of which 

 depend materially upon their absorptive and retentive 

 powers for moisture. 



It has been found, by experiment, that the difference 

 between soils whitened and blackened was nearly the same 

 as that between the same soils wet and dry. It has been 

 further shown that the difference due to color is confined 

 principally to the surface. Schubler sprinkled lamp-black 

 and magnesia on the surfaces of different dry soils, and tested 

 the temperatures which they attained. He found that the 

 blackened soils attained a temperature of from 13 to 14 

 higher than the same soils whitened ; and that the range of 

 increase varied not more than 2. 5 in the different soils. 



He also compared various soils in their wet and dry 

 states, and found the increase of temperature in the dry, 

 over the wet soils, corresponded very nearly with that due 

 to the dark color, but that the whitened dry soil became 

 warmer than the natural color wet, and that the blackened 

 dry soils exceeded in temperature those of the natural 

 color about as much as the blackened did the whitened. 



Soils which have stagnant water sufficiently near the 

 surface to be reached by the roots of ordinary cultivated 

 plants, are usually cold and unproductive. Thorough un- 

 derdraining of such soils not only affords relief from the 

 stagnant water, but permits the surplus from heavy rains 

 to pass off readily, facilitates cultivation, permits a free cir- 

 culation of atmospheric air, pregnant with its burden of 

 watery vapor and fertilizing gases, and elevates the tem* 



