THIRD DAY.

WEDNESDAY-MORNING SESSION.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RECOMMENDATIONS
OF REFEREES.

By B. B. Ross (Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.), Chairman. Your committee has made a report and has discharged a certain part of the duty assigned to it. As a result of the amendment to the constitution that was adopted a year ago, the Committee on Recommendations of Referees is delegated or authorized to recommend to the President of the Association the names of referees and associate referees to work on each of the subjects to be considered by the association. At a joint meeting of the Executive Committee, the Committee on Recommendations of Referees, and the President of the Association, this committee made such recommendations.

The chairmen of the various subcommittees will report on the recommendations of the various referees that have been approved for the coming year. Probably owing to war time conditions, a number of recommendations made a year ago have not been carried out by the present referees. Wherever possible it is hoped that work along these lines will be conducted during the coming year.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE A ON RECOMMENDATIONS OF REFEREES.

By A. J. PATTEN (Agricultural Experiment Station, E. Lansing, Mich.), Chairman.

[Phosphoric acid (basic slag, to cooperate with committee on vegetation tests on the availability of phosphoric acid in basic slag), nitrogen (special study of Kjeldahl method), potash, soils (nitrogenous compounds, lime requirements), inorganic plant constituents, insecticides and fungicides, and water.]

PHOSPHORIC ACID.

It is recommended that the following recommendations of 1916 be referred to the referee for 1918:

(1) That the study of the preparation of neutral ammonium citrate solution, its use in determining reverted phosphoric acid and possible substitutes for it in this determination, be continued.

Approved.

(2) That in view of the conditions resulting from the European war, whereby the price of molybdic acid has been more than quadrupled and 100 per cent molybdic acid practically removed from the markets of the United States, the referee study the determination of phosphoric acid with a view to recommending an optional method not requiring the use of molybdic acid.

Approved.

(3) That the volumetric method, dissolving the slag in sulphuric and nitric acids1, be adopted as an official method for total phosphoric acid in basic slag.

Approved.

(4) That this association instruct its referee on phosphoric acid to give prominent attention to the question of methods of determining available phosphoric acid in slags, the chemical ingredients influencing the same, and the bibliography on the subject.

Sufficient reports are already in the hands of your committee to be of service to the referee on phosphoric acid in his chemical investigations. It seems unnecessary to the committee to wait until all of the vegetation results are at hand before tentative methods of analysis are submitted to the association.

Approved.

(5) It is further recommended that the papers presented by H. D. Haskins on "The Effect of Mass and Degree of Fineness on the Percentage of Available Phosphoric Acid in Precipitated Phosphate" and by E. O. Thomas3 on "Insoluble Phosphoric Acid in Organic Base Goods", be referred to the referee for 1918.

(1) That work on the West Coast refraction method be discontinued. Approved.

(2) That the referee for 1918 study the Lunge nitrometer method, which is invariably used by the manufacturers of explosives, for the analysis of nitrate of soda.

Approved.

1 J. Assoc. Official Agr. Chemists, 1917, 3: 90.

2 Ibid., 1920, 4: 64.

J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 1917, 9: 865.

(3) That the use of 10 grams of anhydrous sodium sulphate as a substitute for potassium sulphate in the Gunning method and any modification thereof be made official.

Approved.

(4) That the use of potassium permanganate, wherever it appears in the Kjeldahl method, be eliminated.

Approved.

(5) That a further study be made of the effect of glass wool in the ferrous-sulphate-zinc-soda method for nitrates.

(1) That the work on the availability of potash be continued. Approved.

(2) That the study of the perchlorate method be continued. Approved.

(3) That the official method for the preparation of potash solution1 be revised to read as follows:

Place 2.5 grams of the sample upon a 12.5 cm. filter paper and wash with successive portions of boiling water into a 250 cc. graduated flask until the filtrate amounts to about 200 cc. Add to the hot solution a slight excess of ammonium hydroxid and sufficient ammonium oxalate to precipitate all of the lime present, cool, dilute to 250 cc., mix, and pass through a dry filter.

Approved.

(4) That the paper presented by H. D. Haskins2, entitled "A Modified Method for the Determination of Water-Soluble Potash in Wood Ashes and Treater Dust", be referred to the referee on potash for 1918. Approved.

SOILS.

It is recommended

(1) That the recommendations held over from 19163 be rescinded and the referee on soils for 1918 be given authority to take up such work as seems in his judgment most necessary.

(2) That the title, "Lime Requirement of Soils", be changed to "Lime Absorption Coefficient".

Approved.

(3) That the work of the ensuing year be directed along lines which will fully develop the optimum conditions for carrying out the Jones method.

Approved.

INORGANIC PLANT CONSTITUENTS.

It is recommended

(1) That the report of J. F. Breazeale1 on "The Determination of Calcium in the Presence of Phosphates" and the recommendations approved by the association in 19162 be referred to the referee for 1918. Approved.

(2) That the methods as outlined for calcium, magnesium, iron and aluminium3 be further studied on solutions approximating the composition of the ash from cereals.

Approved.

(3) That the colorimetric method for the determination of manganese1 be further studied.

Approved.

INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES.

It is recommended

(1) That further cooperative work be done on the Gyory method for titrating arsenious oxid in hydrochloric acid solution with a solution of potassium bromate.

Approved.

(2) That further cooperative work be done on the determination of lead, copper and zinc in the analysis of such preparations as Bordeauxlead arsenate, Bordeaux-zinc arsenite, etc.

Approved.

(3) That cooperative work be done on the determination of total arsenic in London purple by first destroying the color by heating the sample with a mixture of zinc oxid and sodium carbonate.

(4) That cooperative work be done on the removal of coloring matter from London purple by the use of an adsorbent.

Approved.

(5) That the methods given by Roark' for total sulphur and for total lime be made official.

Approved.

(6) That methods for determining the monosulphid equivalent, thiosulphate sulphur, sulphid sulphur, and sulphate sulphur under the iodin titration method2, be made tentative.

Approved.

(7) That the paper on "The Determination of Arsenic in Insecticides by Potassium Iodate" by George S. Jamieson3 be referred to the referee for 1918.

(1) That the method for the determination of barium' be adopted as official.

Approved.

(2) That the method for the determination of manganese be adopted as an additional official method.

Approved.

(3) That further study be given to the rapid method for the determination of calcium and magnesium in industrial water".

Approved.

(4) That further study be given to the determination of free and albuminoid ammonia in water containing sulphids, with a view to modifying the official method in this respect.

Approved.

(5) That the referee for 1918 be instructed to continue the work on water along the lines suggested in the Report of the Referee on Water for 1917, giving particular attention to the selection of methods for determining lead, copper, zinc and tin in waters, and to the calculation of the milligram equivalents of the radicals found in water with a view to their use in the interpretation of water analyses.