Soils and fertilizers . ngle, (C; tripod, (D) Bunsen burner. ORGANIC MATTER 59 Exercise IV. — Extraction of partly decomposed organic matter. Materials. — Muck, dilute hydrochloric acid, ammonia, hydrateof lime, filter paper and funnel. Procedure. — Place about a gram of moist muck on a filter paperin a funnel. Treat the muck with a few drops of dilute hydrochloricacid. Wash out the acid with 50 of distilled water. Discardthis percolation. Now tteat the soil with ammonia. After allow-ing it to stand a few minutes wash with distilled water and catchpercolate. The percolate should be black,
Soils and fertilizers . ngle, (C; tripod, (D) Bunsen burner. ORGANIC MATTER 59 Exercise IV. — Extraction of partly decomposed organic matter. Materials. — Muck, dilute hydrochloric acid, ammonia, hydrateof lime, filter paper and funnel. Procedure. — Place about a gram of moist muck on a filter paperin a funnel. Treat the muck with a few drops of dilute hydrochloricacid. Wash out the acid with 50 of distilled water. Discardthis percolation. Now tteat the soil with ammonia. After allow-ing it to stand a few minutes wash with distilled water and catchpercolate. The percolate should be black, showing the presence of partly de-composed organic matter. This is the material seen escaping frommanure piles. It is the most valuable portion of the organic matter. Treat a portion of this soluble organic matter with hydrate oflime. Note the flocculating effect, which prevents the leaching oforganic matter from the soil. Exercise V. — Influence of organic matter on rate of percola-tion of water through Fig. 12. — Apparatus for studying the influence of the addition of organicmatter to a soil on the rate of percolation and percentage of water holdingcapacity. Materials. — Clay or clay loam soil finely pulverized, moistmuck, lamp chimneys, torsion balance and weights, cheesecloth. Procedure. — Divide the soil in two portions. To one add 10 per-cent of the moist muck. Mix thoroughly. Place equal and definite 60 SOILS AND FERTILIZERS weights of the two portions of soil in respective lamp chimneys,having previously tied cheesecloth neatly over the bottoms to keepthe soil in place and yet to allow drainage. Compact the soils touniform height. Weigh each chimney plus its portion of the chimneys in such a position as to allow free drainage. Pourequal amounts of water on each and observe the rate of percolationof the water through the two soils. Explain results and show thepractical bearing of the experiment. Exercise VI. — Influence of organic matter
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