The method adopted to determine adequacy or inadequacy of the humus (for this is all that is intended in this examination) is completed in less than half an hour. It is based on the color of the humus-extract and avoids the necessity of removal of the lime from the soil.
The soil is pulverized in a mortar with a rubber pestle, and passed through a half-millimeter sieve. Seven grams of the fine earth is placed in a test tube with 15 or 20 cc. of a ten per cent solution of caustic potash and boiled for ten or fifteen seconds, then allowed to settle. The humus is dissolved and the density of the color of the solution is an indication of adequacy or inadequacy. A dense black, non-translucent solution shows the presence of at least one per cent of humus in the soil; a deep brown translucent color indicates about one-half of one per cent; while a light brown color clearly shows a deficiency in the soil, and a need of a good green-manure crop.
Lime.—Two grams of fine earth is treated with a little hydrochloric acid, boiled for a few seconds, and ammonia is added to precipitate the iron and alumina; the whole, with the soil-residue, is quickly thrown on a filter to separate the mass from the lime solution, and washed. After adding ammonium chlorid the lime is precipitated with oxalate of ammonia, and its adequacy for soil-fertility judged of by the turbidity of the solution, or the bulk of the precipitate. Or the latter may be filtered off, dried and weighed. We thus obtain a measure of the carbonate and humate of lime present, by comparing it with the precipitate obtained from a soil whose percentage of lime has been correctly ascertained.
Potash.—The determination of potash in the soils requires more time than either of the other ingredients, and is more rarely made by us. Our knowledge of the soils of the State of California obtained through many analyses, gives us a clue to those localities where potash would probably be deficient, as well as to those whose soils are generally extremely rich in potash; the percentages reaching usually from .5 to as much as 1.5 per cent and more.
For the determination, two grams of the fine earth is digested in hydrochloric acid over a steam bath for two days, the insoluble residue filtered off, the filtrate evaporated to dryness to render the silica insoluble, again filtered and the iron; alumina and lime removed by precipitation with ammonia and oxalate of ammonia and filtration. The filtrate is then evaporated to dryness, the ammonia salts destroyed with aqua regia or driven off by heat, and the alkalies changed to chlorids. Any residue is then filtered off and platin-chlorid added to precipitate the potash, which is separated and determined in the usual way, either by reduction of the platinum by ignition, or by measurement in a Plattner’s potash tube.
Phosphoric Acid.—The determination of phosphoric acid is based on the volume of the phospho-molybdate precipitate in a tube made like a Plattner’s potash tube, but having a wider interior diameter for the smaller portion (not greater than 3 millimeters), and a length of 50 mm. With this diameter, one mm. in height of the precipitate obtained by our short method indicates one one-hundredth of one per cent of phosphoric acid in the soil. The unit of measure must be obtained for each tube, unless of uniform diameter, and is ascertained by taking a soil whose phosphoric-acid percentage has been determined gravimetrically and giving it the following quick treatment; which must, of course, be closely followed in each soil to be examined.
Two grams of the fine earth is ignited in a platinum dish to destroy the organic matter, transferred to a test-tube containing 5 cc. of nitric acid and made to boil for only a couple of seconds, thus preventing the solution of silicates to any material extent. It is not allowed to stand, but a little water is immediately added and it is quickly thrown on a small filter and washed with a little water. The phosphoric acid is then precipitated with molybdic acid at the proper temperature; allowing it to settle, the liquid is drawn off and the precipitate transferred to the measuring-tube. It settles into the small part in a short time if the latter is not too narrow, and is then measured with a millimeter scale. This represents the percentage as found in the soil by the gravimetric method, and serves as a guide for other examinations, whose agreement with gravimetric determinations is generally quite close, and quite sufficient for practical purposes. The rapidity with which the solution is made and separated from the soil is a matter of special importance for comparative results, or determination of percentages; for if the acid solution be allowed to stand for some time before filtration from the soil, silica passes into solution also, and the volume of the molybdate precipitate is increased by it; thus vitiating the results and adding to the time required for the method. By this short method the practically important phosphoric acid in the soil may be approximately determined within half an hour.
SHORT METHOD FOR ALKALI SALTS.
The old method of obtaining solutions of the salts by leaching the soil on a filter until all of the alkali had been washed out has been replaced by the following short one. 50 or 100 grams of the well-mixed soil is placed in a bottle containing 200 cc. of water, shaken up occasionally during 12 hours and allowed to settle. The solution may then be passed through a common filter (or preferably a pressure filter) and an aliquot part (usually 50 cc.) of the filtrate evaporated to dryness in a platinum basin and ignited at a temperature just below redness to destroy any organic matter that may be present. The basin and contents are weighed and the soluble salts are dissolved in a very little water and separated by filtration through a small filter into a 50 cc. cylinder and the alkali carbonates and chlorids determined by titration, being calculated as sodium compounds.
The material remaining on the filter and in the basin, consisting of insoluble earth, carbonates and calcium sulfate, is gently ignited in the basin and weighed; the difference between this and the first weight gives approximately the total soluble salts, which should substantially correspond to the titrations made.