822 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Experiments with bacterized peat (Gard. Chron., 3. ser., 56 {li)l^), No. 

 1436, pp. 12-14). — A brief preliminary account is given of tests of this material 

 in tbe open ground, and in greenhouse experiments. 



The results are stated to indicate that while the bacterizetl peat does not 

 appear to have a beneficial effect uix)n the water-holding capacity of the soil 

 it has valuable fertilizing properties which apparently are not limited to pro- 

 viding nitrogen. It gave the best results, as compared with manure, when used 

 under conditions of an abundant supply of moisture. 



On the influence of straw on the availability of org'anically combined 

 nitrogenous fertilizers, F. von May (Mitt. Lanthc. Lelirkanz. K. K. Hochsch. 

 BodenkuL Wien, 2 (1914), No. 3, pp. 433-454). — In this paper previous literature 

 along this line is briefly reviewed and results of experiments by the author are 

 given in which rye straw, red clover hay, and cotton-seed meal were used as 

 fertilizers for potatoes. 



The potatoes were planted immediately after plowing under the fertilizing 

 materials, singly and in combinations. The resnlts showed that the avail- 

 ability of the organically combined nitrogen was depressed by the presence of 

 a nitrogen-free organic sub.stauce (as in case of rye straw). The magnitude 

 of this depression seemed to depend upon the relation of the nitrogen and 

 nitrogen-free organic substance. 



The author suggests that the depression of available nitrogen under these cir- 

 cumstances is due to appropriation of the soluble nitrogen by micro-organisms 

 which use the nitrogen-free substance as a source of energy. 



Experiments on the fertilizing action of guanidin and urea nitrates in 

 comparison with sodium and ammonium nitrates, P. Wagner (Mitt. Dent. 

 Landw. (ieselL, 29 {1914), No. 29, pp. .}i7-.i2i). — In pot experiments with oats 

 and rye grass, urea and guanidin nitrates were less effective fertilizers than 

 ammonium or sodium nitrates. With oats the gnadiniu nitrate was positively 

 injurious. 



The conversion of ammonia into nitric acid or ammonium nitrate from 

 an economic standpoint, O. Dieffenbach (Chein. Indus., [Berlin], 37 {1914), 

 No. 10, pp. 265-269; ahs. in Jour. 8oc. Chem. Indu»., S3 {1914), No. 11. p. 590; 

 Chem. Ztg., 38 {1914), A'o. 77, Repert.. pp. 360, 361).— It is concluded that the 

 conversion of ammonia into nitric acid and ammonium niti-ate is likely to be 

 less profitable than conversion into sulphate except in factories producing cal- 

 cium nitrate as a fertilizer from synthetic nitric acid. In this case the absorp- 

 tion of ammonia by nitric acid is shown to be more economical than by sul- 

 phuric acid, and it is suggested that the production of ammonia from calcium 

 cyanamid or aluminum uitrid can be profitably combined with the manufacture 

 of nitric acid by tbe Birkeland-Ej-de process. 



The fixation of atmospheric nitrog'en, J. Knox {London, 1914, pp. VII-\-112, 

 figg^ 7). — This is the fourth of a series of chemical monographs intended 

 primarily for advanced students. It deals with theories of methods of (1) 

 fixation of atmospheric nitrogen as nitric and nitrous acids, or as their salts, 

 (2) synthesis of ammonia and ammonium compounds from atmospheric nitro- 

 gen, and (''.) conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds which readily 

 yield ammonia. Attention is given only "to those methods which are either 

 in actual oi^eration, or which show promise of assuming technical importance 

 in the near future." Information regarding the purely technical part of the 

 subject is drawn from the report of Norton (E. S. R., 27, p. 623). 



X bibliography of 153 references to the literature of the subject is given. 



Lime nitrogen-superphosphate, H. Koppen (IIliis. Landw. Ztg., 34 {1914), 

 \o. 18, pp. 181, 182; ohx. in Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome], Mo. Bui. Agr. Intel. 

 and Plant Diseases, 5 {1914), ^o. 5, pp. 629, 630). — Experiments are reported 



