406 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



taller, freer from weeds, and the plants were much darker in color 

 than on the check plots. 



These results were so remarkable and unexpected that M'e increased 

 and extended the work for 1915. During February of this year we 

 started additional experiments on alfalfa, red clover, and vetch on 

 many types of soil. In these experiments we used superphosphate, iron 

 sulphate, flowers of sulphur, gypsum, ground phosphate rock, mono- 

 calcic phosphate, and steamed bone meal. 



In all of the experiments the monocalcic phosphate, ground phos- 

 phate rock, and steamed bone meal, produced no effect whatever on 

 these legumes. 



The flowers of sulphur, superphosphate, iron sulphate, and gypsum, 

 each again gave very marked increases in yield. On one plot where 

 iron sulphate had been applied to adobe soil the increase over the check 

 plot in the second cutting amounted to slightly more than 1000 per 

 cent. This, of course, was an extreme case; but in a number of 

 instances the increase amounted to from 200 to 300 per cent. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ALFALFA PLANT. 



Chemical analyses made during recent years bj^ E. B. Hart and "W. H. 

 Peterson of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, and J. W. Ames and 

 G. E. Boltz of the Ohio Experiment Station, have shown that the alfalfa 

 plant contains far more sulphur than was indicated by the earlier crude 

 chemical analyses. The analyses of the Ohio Experiment Station show 

 that in that state an average crop of alfalfa, of from four to five tons, 

 contains approximately 35 pounds of sulphur and only 25 pounds of 

 phosphorous. 



The small amount of sulphur indicated by the earlier analyses was 

 due to the fact that the chemists first burned the plant and then ana- 

 lyzed the ashes. It has been found in recent years that the sulphur 

 exists in a very volatile form in many plants and much of this is lost 

 in burning the plant. 



SULPHUR IN OUR SOILS. 



During the past winter we collected typical samples of soil from three 

 distinct types in our valley. These were analyzed by the chemist at the 

 Experiment Station at Corvallis, Oregon, with the following results : 



Table showing sulphur in some Rogue River Valley soils. 

 Pounds in one acre to a depth of one foot. 



Soil Type Phosphorus Sulphur 



Medford fine sandy loam 3357 S«2 



Tolo loam 2334 616 



ifedford clay loam (fertile field) 3747 1650 



The first two types of soil show a very low content of sulphur, and 

 only about one-fourth as much sulphur as phosphorous ; while the 

 analyses of the alfalfa plant show that it uses about 50 per cent more 

 sulphur than phosphorous. Furthermore, much of this sulphur in the 

 soil is not available for plant use, as it is locked up Avith other elements 

 in unavailable compounds. These two tj'pes of soil have shown marked 

 increases in yield from the use of sulphur fertilizers. 



The third type of soil M^as collected from a very fertile spot where 

 the alfalfa yields had been very fine for many years without the appli- 



