VOLUME L NUMBER 3 
BOTANICAL GAZETTE 
SEPTEMBER rgio 
SOME EFFECTS OF A HARMFUL ORGANIC SOIL 
CONSTITUENT?! 
OSWALD SCHREINER AND J. J. SKINNER 
(WITH ELEVEN FIGURES) 
The investigation of infertile soils from various parts of the 
United States has received considerable attention in the last few 
years, and has been conducted along several converging lines in 
these laboratories. Among these is a thorough inquiry into the 
nature of the organic matter of soils. The results of these researches 
into the chemistry of the organic matter of the soil, its origin, 
transformation, and properties, have been reported upon to a 
large extent in a former bulletin of this Bureau and in scientific 
journals.? Several bodies have been isolated from such soils, which 
have quite different chemical properties, thus showing that there 
‘ Published by permission of the Secretary of Agriculture. 
? SCHREINER, O., and SHorey, E. C., The isolation of dihydroxystearic acid from 
soils. Jour. ane Chen, Soc. 30:1599. 1908. 
e isolation of picoline carboxylic acid from soils and its relation to soil 
fertility. J ae pees Chem. Soc. 30:1295. 1908. 
-——-, The presence of a cholesterol substance in soils; agrosterol. Jour. 
Amer. Chea Soc. 31:116. 1909. 
———, A wax acid from soils; agroceric acid. Science N.S. 28:190. 1908.; 
———, Pentosans in soil. Science N.S. 31:308. 1910. 
~——, Purine bases in soils. Science N.S. 31:309. 1910. 
~——, The presence of secondary decomposition products of proteids in soils. 
Proc. Amer. Soc. Biol. Chem. 1:47. 1907. 
See also Bull. 53, Bureau of Soils, U.S. Dept. Agric. 
, O., and — M. X., Soil fatigue caused by organic compounds. 
Jour. Biol. Chem. 6:39. 
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