NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



175 



ing is so great that the present prices of the lands which have been 

 so treated scarcely justify the outlay on a large part of it. — A. P. 



Soils of the Eastern United States— the Sassafras Silt 



Loam. By J. A. Bonsteel {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. of Soils, Circ. 25; 

 May 1911). — This is confined to the coastal plain portions of New- 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and has a total area 

 of more than half a million acres, the whole of which is under cultiva- 

 tion. Prices range from $25 to $125 per acre. The surface is a 

 mealy, soft, brown loam, and the subsoil a stiff, yellow, heavy silt 

 loam, both of varying depth, but ultimately resting upon gravel or 

 sand, thus ensuring adequate drainage. — A. P. 



Soils, Moisture in. By L. J. Briggs and H. L. Shantz (Bot. 

 Gaz. pp. 210-19, March 1911; 2 figs.). — Describes a wax seal method 

 of estimating the amount of moisture in soils. The wax consists of 

 80 per cent, paraffin and 20 per cent, petroleum ; this may be applied 

 after planting the seeds, which grow up through it. Though the mois- 

 ture may be from 1 per cent, in sand or 25 per cent, in heavy clays, or 

 more in peaty soils, all vegetation may have dried up. — G, F. S. E. 



Soils, The Control of Blowing-. By E. E. Free and J. M. 

 Westgate ((7./S.A. Dep. Agr., Farmers' Bull, 421; Dec. 1910; 10 

 figs.). — -The ill-effects of the blowing of soil occur principally with 

 sandy soils in the arid and semi- arid regions, but even in the humid 

 sections the effect in the aggregate is of considerable importance 

 wherever there are considerable areas of bare soil exposed to the con- 

 tinued action of strong winds. In the former it is no uncommon 

 thing for farmers to lose an entire crop through the blowing out of 

 the seed, or the uprooting, burial, or cutting off, of the young plants 

 (p. 7). Where not excessive, however, especially if there is a suffi- 

 cient annual rainfall, good effects may follow from the blowing of 

 the soil in the mixing of the particles and the renewal of the surface 

 layers. As an extreme instance of its beneficial effects is mentioned 

 the removal of the fertile material from deserts and its deposition in 

 other and often distant regions, when soils of great fertility and 

 high agricultural value may be built up, as in the extreme case of 

 the loess soils of China and Central Asia, and possibly some of the 

 similar soils in the Mississippi Valley (p. 5). 



The means by which damage may be prevented or decreased are, 

 in principle, two — 'first, increasing the cohesion of the soil, as by 

 increasing the water and humus content of the soil and modifying its 

 texture; and, second, decreasing its exposure to the wind, as by 

 providing a cover of growing vegetation, leaving the stubble of the 

 last crop standing, providing an artificial covering of straw, brush 

 lines, &c., and by planting wind-breaks.- — A. P. 



Sorrel. By G. Valder {Agr. Gaz. N.S.W. vol. xxii. pt. v. 

 p. 392). — To eradicate sorrel apply lime (5 to 10 cwt. to the acre) 



