=281. Estimation of the Absorption Power of Soils for Aqueous Vapors.=[181]—_Method A._—The fine earth, ten to twenty grams, is spread out on a surface of about twenty-five square centimeters, and left for several days with the observation of the temperature of the air and the loss of weight determined from time to time. This evaporation is continued until the weight remains practically constant. Afterwards by drying the sample at 100° the amount of hygroscopic moisture is determined. A similar result can be reached if the sample is first dried at 100°, or over sulfuric acid at ordinary temperatures, and then the increase in weight observed which the sample acquires on being exposed for several days to the atmosphere under ordinary conditions. Soils with about the same content of humus show variations in the power to absorb aqueous vapors which are almost proportional to the amount of clay which they contain. With the increase of humus substance, the power of the soil for absorbing moisture is increased, so that a sandy soil which is rich in humus often will retain as much moisture in an air-dried state as a clay soil which is poor in humus. If the experiment is carried on by drying over sulfuric acid instead of at 100°, the sample should be left from four to seven days in order that a constant weight may be reached. Even after this time the loss in weight is 0.2 to 1.5 per cent less than when the sample is dried at 100°. _Method B._—In order to determine the amount of aqueous vapor which a soil will absorb in an atmosphere saturated with the vapor the following method is used: The sample of air-dried soil in a flat dish of given surface; _viz._, about twenty grams of soil to twenty-five square centimeters surface is placed in a vessel over water without contact with the water, and the whole of the apparatus is covered with a glass bell-jar. The sample is weighed at intervals of six or eight hours until no appreciable increase of weight is observed. An empty vessel of the same size and character as that containing the soil is kept under the bell-jar, also in the same conditions, so that any increase in weight by the deposition of moisture on this vessel may be determined. This increase in weight is to be deducted from the total increase in weight of the vessel and the soil. Sandy and loamy soils become saturated in this manner in the course of the first twenty-four hours and remain after that unchanged in weight. Very clayey soils, and also those which are very rich in humus, require a much longer time, three or four days even. In this case it is better to take a smaller sample of the soil; _viz._, ten grams. The temperature of the air within the glass vessel, of course, must be taken into consideration.