1918] 



SOILS FERTILIZERS. 



121 



was sown. After one month's growth a marked difference in size and green- 

 ness of foliage in favor of the bacterized peat (10 per cent application) was 

 noticed. After three months' growth the final examination showed as a rule 

 greater development both of foliage and roots for the bacterized peat samples 

 than for the control, the heavy application of peat (10 per cent) giving more 

 than 100 per cent increase of plant by weight. The addition of lime to the 

 peat did not appear to have much, if any, beneficial effect. 



It would appear from the above that the bacterial treatment to which this 

 sample of peat was subjected was beneficial in making the peat useful as a 

 fertilizer. But as heavy applications, i. e., 10 per cent by weight of soil, were 

 necessary to give marked beneficial results, the expense of preparation may pre- 

 clude its general application to the soil as a fertilizer. 



Study of the nitrification of different leathers available for agricultural 

 use, and of sulphureted raps cakes, Guillin {Compt. Rend. Acad. Agr. France, 

 2 (1916), No. 27, pp. 760-769; abs. in Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome^, Internat. 

 Rev. Sci. and Pract. Agr., 7 (1916), No. 9, pp. 1253-1256; Jour. Sac. Chem. 

 Indus.^ 36 (1917), No. 5, p. 299). — Nitrification experiments are reported with 

 clayey lime soil which was treated with dried blood, tanned leather, chrome 

 leather, roasted leather, leather waste treated with sulphuric acid, leather waste 

 treated with sulphuric acid and liquefied, and sulphureted rape cake, con- 

 taining, respectively, 11.72, 8.15, 8.87, 6.77, 6.63, 7.36, and 5.62 per cent of nitro- 

 gen. These materials were added in amounts equivalent to 1 gm. of nitrogen 

 per kilogram of soil, and nitrate determinations were made at intervals of 

 one, two, and five months. The following table shows the amounts by weight 

 of nitrates found after one and three months : 



Nitrification experiments. 



" The effects of chrome leather and of dissolved leather upon the growth of 

 young wheat plants were investigated in pot experiments. Ten weeks after 

 germination the crops were weighed, and taking the weight of the control 

 plants as 100, that treated with chrome leather was 30, and that with dissolved 

 leather 115. Chrome leather is, therefore, injurious to vegetation. Neither 

 tanned leather nor roasted leather are suitable soil amendments. Under very 

 favorable conditions of nitrification, the former gave 0.021 and 0.078 gm. of 

 nitric acid after one and five months, respectively, and the latter 0.075 and 0.197 

 gm. per gram of fertilizer nitrogen applied. Leather which has been thoroughly 

 decomposed with sulphuric acid is a useful fertilizer." 



Action of ammonium salts on the growth of barley, H. G. Sodeebaum (K. 

 Landtbr. Akad. Handl. och Tidskr., 55 (1916), No. 1-2, pp. 57-66, figs. 2; abs. 

 in Internat. Inst. Agr. IRome], Internat. Rev. Sci. and Pract. Agr., 7 (1916), 



