Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1914 — NEW SOIL ACIDITY TEST IS DISCOVERED [ARTICLE]

NEW SOIL ACIDITY TEST IS DISCOVERED

Chemicals Are Perfectly Safe for ' Layman to Handle, and Apparatus Is Cheap. What la expected to prove a more positive test for soil acidity than the common litmus paper test, and one yrhich, because of the cheapo and harmless chemicals used in its operation, will be within the reach of the ordinary farmer, has been devised by ’ E. Truog, Instructor hi the department of soil, college of agriculture of the University of Wisconsin. > . The new test, it is believed, will be of especial benefit to county representatives and to field agents of the state soils laboratoiy, owing to the fact that it is simple to operate and approximate quantitative Results can be secured in from 10 to 15 minutes. The new method Consists of the addition to a sample of soil to be examined of zinc sulphide with small amounts of calcium chloride and water, and boiling the mixture in a flask held over a small flame, preferably an alcohol lamp. Commercial lead acetate paper, which can be purchased at the drug store, when held in the fumes of the mixture for a few minutes, will turn from light brown to a shiny black, according to the degree of acidity present in the soil. The natnral color of the lead acetate paper is white, x hence the discoloration can be plainly seen and will more accurately gauge the acidity in a soil than will the litmus paper test, now in use. The chemicals are perfectly safe for the layman to handle, and the complete' apparatus, including flask and burner, ordinarily will'not cost more than. |2. The details of the apparatus have not'been completed, but in a short time a more definite announcement will be forthcoming.