fip:ld crops, 439 



derived from the sale of tajrs. It is claimed that this chaiifie to a tonnage tax will be 

 of decided advantajn' to purchasers of commercial fertili/.ers l)y promoting competition 

 and ini'T'easiiiir tiic mimher of brands of fertilizers introduced into the State. 



Laws relating to inspection, analysis, manufacture, and sale of fertil- 

 izers, cotton-seed meal, etc., in Florida (Mo. Bid. Florida Drpl. A;/r., II iiuoi), 

 No. (Ui, jip. l.i-lS). — (iives text of the law approved ]VIay 22, 1901. 



Report of the committee charged with the study of the revision of legis- 

 lation relating to the adulteration of fertilizers and foods ( Bid. A(/r.[Jh-ii.isil.'<], 

 17 (1901), Xo. ^, PI). ^-35-290). — The provisions of the laws in force in p]ngland, 

 Denmark, S]>ain, France, Hungary, Norwa\', Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland are 

 briefly given. 



FIELD CROPS. 



Report on the experimental work at the agricultural college at Tetschen- 

 Liebwerd, E. (tross (Ztsdn: Landir. Vevsuchsw. Oesterr., 3 (1900), No. o, jij). .U4- 

 488,fi<ix. J). — This report contains brief descriptions of tests with 8 varieties of win- 

 ter wheat, 4 of rye, 4 of oats, 2 of clover, 7 of cowpeas, and 60 varieties of potatoes; 

 of fertilizer experiments on meadows, barley, clover, wheat, and liops; of plant 

 breeding work with potatoes and barley, and various other experiments, some of 

 which have not yet been completed. Many of these experiments were in progress 

 for several seasons. 



Colossal Ladino, a sport variety of white clover, yielded 7,050 kg. of hay per hec- 

 tare, as compared with 5,120 kg. of ordinary white clover. Inoculating land with 

 soil from American cowpea fields resulted in a marked improvement in the yield of 

 cowpeas, but neither the plants on inoculated soil nor those on uninoculated soil 

 arrived at the blossoming stage. Of the varieties of potatoes tested 42 were new, and 

 among them Kastellan and Badera were the richest in starch, containing 21 per 

 cent. The fertilizer experiments on meadows consisted of applying different combi- 

 nations of nitrate of soda, superphosphate, kainit, and lime at the rate of 150, 300, 

 400, and 250 kg. per liectare, respectively, and the use of compost at the rate of 

 30,000 kg. Liquid manure was applied at the rate of 160 hectoliters jier hectare. The 

 results were in favor of the complete fertilizer, the compost, and the liquid manure. 

 During the three years of the experiments all the plats, except the one which had 

 received lime alone, gave an increase in the yield of hay greater in value than the 

 cost of the fertilizer applied. Harrowing the meadows was not as effective as 

 anticipated. 



Barley was grown with different applications and combinations of Thomas slag, 

 kainit, and barnyard maiuire. Thomas slag and kainit were applied at the rate of 

 800 kg. per hectare, and the barnyard manure at the rate of 30,000 kg. per hectare. 

 The object of this experiment was to test the effect of a slow-acting nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizer like barnyard manure, in conjunction with mineral fertilizers. It is stated 

 that a quick-acting nitrogenous fertilizer, like nitrate of soda, affects the growth of 

 the i)lant in its early stage, but that the supply of nitrogen is exhausted or insuffi- 

 cient when the grains are developing. The results of this test showed that the addi- 

 tion of mineral fertilizers and barnyard manure materially increased the yield, and 

 that the development of the grains took its normal course. 



Plats which had received Thomas slag and kainit the preceding year, wlien a crop 

 of barley was grown, produced from 400 to 1,050 kg. of clover hay more per hectare 

 than jjlats which had received no fertilizer. Martellin, a prepared tobai-co and hop 

 fertilizer, consisting of powdered potash and finely ground peat, ajjplied with barn- 

 yard manure for hops, decreased the yield as compared with the use of barnyard 

 manure alone. Pruning largely increased the yield of hop plants. The unpruned 

 plants developed too many leaves and underground stems for proper cultivation and 

 profitable production. 



