May 21,1917 
Solubility of Certain Inorganic Soil Constituents 
261 
ORGANIC LIQUID FROM COMPOSTED AEFALFA 
In the summer of 1915 a bale of alfalfa was placed in a galvanized 
tank fitted with a cover, moistened, and allowed to decompose. Water 
was occasionally added, and a quantity of liquid accumulated in the 
tank which possessed the very dark color and ammoniacal odor typical 
of a barnyard compost heap from which the liquid material does not 
escape. 
This liquid was used, after some dilution, for making soil extracts. 
To a second portion of the liquid about 50 per cent, by volume, of alcohol 
was added, which precipitated part of the organic matter. This was 
filtered, and the filtrate and precipitate were used separately for making 
soil extracts, the alcohol first being driven off. The precipitate was 
fairly soluble in water. 
A third portion of the original liquid was dialyzed through rather 
close-textured parchment tubing, the dialysate being frequently removed 
and replaced with distilled water. Both the dialysate and the organic 
residue were employed in making soil extracts. The organic residue in 
this case formed a colloidal suspension rather than a true solution in 
distilled water. The results of the analyses of the soil extracts made 
with these organic separations are presented in Table VIII. 
The concentration of these various organic solvents with respect to 
the original alfalfa liquid was the same in all cases. 
Table; VIII .—Soil minerals removed by extracting soils with the liquid resulting from 
decomposing alfalfa 
[Results expressed as parts per million of dry soil. Amounts removed by distilled water have been 
deducted] 
Inorganic substances added 
to soil with organic solvents. 
Clay-loam soil. 
Sandy-loam soil. 
Organic 
substance. 
Iron. 
Cal¬ 
cium. 
Mag¬ 
ne¬ 
sium. 
Phos¬ 
phoric 
acid. 
Iron. 
Cal¬ 
cium. 
Mag¬ 
ne¬ 
sium. 
Phos¬ 
phoric 
acid. 
Iron. 
Cal¬ 
cium. 
Mag¬ 
ne¬ 
sium. 
Phos¬ 
phoric 
acid. 
Untreated liq¬ 
uid a. 
1.78 
30 
30 
57 
0. 72 
389 
103 
18 
0.26 
209 
43 
18 
Alcohol solub le« 
3-45 
30 
20 
50 
.28 
645 
167 
10 
.62 
260 
43 
18 
Alcohol insolu¬ 
ble**. 
2. 20 
32 
15 
64 
.46 
164 
54 
4 
. 26 
96 
19 
6 
Dialysate. 
•65 
30 
23 
26 
.98 
516 
136 
4 
1.78 
294 
47 
10 
Dialyzed resi¬ 
due . 
4*36 
19 
12 
54 
.88 
25 
11 
15 
i -45 
6 
”3 
10 
a Average of two separate determinations with two separate samples of the solvents. 
All these solvents, excepting the dialyzed residue, removed consider¬ 
able amounts of calcium from the soils. The magnesium was quite freely 
removed from the heavy soil, but less so from the light soil. Phosphoric 
acid was not recovered in amount equal to that added to the soil with the 
organic solvents, but an increase over the amount removed by distilled 
water was obtained. The alcohol-insoluble organic material was not as 
