Published by 
The Rural Publishing Go. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New Yorker 
rr>| • t™' 9 
Weekly. One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
The Business Farmer s Paper 
Yol. LXXIV. 
NEW YORK, MAY 15, 1015. 
No. 4306. 
A New Chemical Test for Acid Soils. 
A Miniature Chemical Laboratory. 
Part II. 
PPARATUS REQUIRED—Last week we gave 
a little picture of the apparatus required for 
making this acid test. There is a glass flask 
for boiling the mixture, and a small alcohol burner 
for producing the heat. There is also a small case 
for holding the burner and the flask. The chemi¬ 
cals needed in making the test are kept in bottles. 
There is a small cup used for measuring the soil. 
This cup has a capacity of nine cubic centimeters, 
and when filled perfectly it will hold about 10 grains 
of a clay loam soil. This cup is the measure of all 
soils used in the test. A solution of chemicals is 
made by putting five grams of sulphide of zinc, and 
r>0 grams of chloride of calcium in 250 cubic centi¬ 
meters of pure water. The calcium chloride will 
dissolve, but the sulphide of zinc remains suspended 
through the water. This mixture is kept in a tight 
glass bottle, and used as described later. You will 
remember that this test depends upon the fact that 
the first thing of course is to get a fair sample of the 
soil. As we all know, soils vary in -their composi¬ 
tion from one part of the field to another, and in 
a test of this sort we should not take the surface 
soil entirely, but endeavor .to get a sample down in 
that part of the soil wive re the roots do their work. 
This is usually done by scraping off about one inch 
of the surface in a place which seems to be a 
fair average. Push the measuring cup which comes 
with the outfit down into the soil bottom side up 
until the bottom of the dish is level with the sur¬ 
face. Then a knife can be run under a cup and 
the whole thing lifted out, leaving this measuring 
cup filled with soil. This sample will answer where 
the soil is damp enough to .take up the cupful. In 
a dry or sandy soil, of course, the cup cannot be 
filled in this way. In such a case a quantity of the 
soil is dug up carefully, well crushed or pulverized, 
and the cup filled by using a spoon which will han¬ 
dle the dry soil properly. When the sample has 
been collected, it is poured into the flask used for 
boiling. The measuring cylinder which goes with 
the outfit is then filled with water up to a point 
they are on little mounds or in depressions where 
the water •would stand, and always scraping off the 
upper soil to the depth of at least one inch before 
taking the sample. As each piece of paper serves as 
a test, it should be marked to show the locality and 
laid away for future reference. This test is said to 
give far more positive results than other tests in 
use. This is particularly true of soils which are 
not strongly acid. We have no doubt that many of 
our readers have been quite a little puzzled in their 
attempts to make use of the test with blue litmus 
paper. In some cases this paper gives only a faint 
pink color, and we have known of instances where 
it was an even chance that this color was partly the 
result of holding the paper in the sweaty lingers be¬ 
fore it was put into the soil. In any event the lit¬ 
mus paper test does not suggest whether ground 
limestone or the more active burned lime should be 
used, or whether -the soil requires a heavy dose of 
lime immediately or not. All these -things are ne¬ 
cessary if we expect to use lime intelligently, and 
this simple chemical test when studied out and 
handled fairly will without question prove of great 
A Portable Limestone Crusher at Work Turning Out Dust. Fig. 253. 
when this sulphide of zinc is brought into contact 
with an acid, the offensive sulphur gas is given 
off. The object of using the chloride of calcium is 
that this chemical acts upon the soil so as to make 
the test more sensitive. It does not produce any 
more acidity, hut changes the acid in the soil so 
that it will make a surer action with the sulphide 
of zinc. The paper which is used for testing when 
held over the fumes of this flask is made by dip¬ 
ping blotting paper into a solution of acetate of 
lead. In using this test it will probably be better 
for the farmer to buy this paper at a drug store or 
from a chemist, but he can make it himself by dis¬ 
solving acetate of lead in water, soaking the paper 
and then drying it thoroughly. The water used in 
making this test should be pure, and neither acid 
nor alkaline. Rain water, which is collected in a 
clean dish after it has been raining about half an 
hour, would be good for the purpose. Water of a 
spring will generally answer; but of course lime 
water out of a well which is known to be hard, 
would not give as good results. 
PREPARING THE SOIL.—In making the test 
which marks 45 cubic centimeters. Then after 
shaking the bottle which contains the water and 
chemicals, five cubic centimeters of this mixture is 
added, making 50 cubic centimeters in all. This 
liquid is poured into the fiask containing the soil, 
and also 50 cubic centimeters of pure water. The 
burner is then started under the flask, and in a 
very short time the contents will begin to boil. The 
operator watches his flask closely, and after boiling 
has gone on one minute he holds a strip of the ace¬ 
tate of lead paper over the top of the flask. The 
boiling is kept up for two minutes with the paper 
held in the fumes, and this is all that is required. 
If the soil is acid this boiling will drive off the sul¬ 
phur fumes described last week, and these fumes 
will color the paper which is held in them dark or 
light according to the amount of acid contained in 
the soil. The paper is then put away for reference, 
the contents of the flask can be washed out, and we 
are all ready to make another test. 
REQUIREMENTS OF THE TEST.—It is better 
to take samples from each field or acre. Take them 
in various localities, making note as to whether 
benefit to any farmer. Here seems to be a chance 
for some smart and active young man in every com¬ 
munity to do a little business at testing soils. The 
apparatus’ will not cost much, and after a few trials 
an intelligent young man would learn how to op¬ 
erate the test accurately, and after he obtained fair 
results through practice we think he would be able 
to obtain quite a little business in the way of test¬ 
ing soils throughout his community. At any rate, 
we should think that the Farm Bureau men might 
well have this apparatus to use in their work. It 
is small, easily carried about, and apparently sim¬ 
ple to operate. Our belief is that a thorough use 
of this test will prove of very great value in any 
farm community, and our advice to young men who 
wish to study farming thoroughly would be to in¬ 
vestigate this matter. It might prove the first step 
to a small chemical laboratory in which a skillful 
young man could serve the neighborhood to the ad¬ 
vantage of all concerned. Prof. S. W. Johnson, the 
noted agricultural chemist, started in such a farm 
laboratory. The possibilities of development are 
great. 
