724 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



Applications of limestone and a complete fertilizer on the permanent pasture 

 plats with Kentucky blue grass resulted in the highest net return amounting 

 to $30.12. 



A comparison of the results obtained on Hagerstown soil receiving similar 

 fertilizer treatment is held to emphasize the depleted condition of DeKalb soils, 

 but also indicates that under proper management and favorable weather 

 conditions the latter are capable of producing yields equal to or surpassing 

 those secured on rich limestone soils. 



[Work with fertilizers on the Canada Experimental Farms, 1916] (Canada 

 Expt. Farms Rpts. 1917, pp. 2! f . 28-29, 31, 98).— The fertilizer investigations 

 embraced observations on the nitrogen content of rain and snow ; tests of 

 different quantities and of varying compositions of fertilizers and of different 

 nitrogen and phosphoric acid carriers; experiments with seaweed, lime, and fish 

 scrap; a comparison of clover and manure as a source of humus; and trsts 

 with commercial fertilizers as a partial substitute for barnyard manure. 



Based on the results obtained during a 10-year period, it is estimated that 

 6.583 lbs. of nitrogen per acre available for plant growth are obtained annually 

 from rain and snow. The average results secured from more than 40 experi- 

 ments indicated that ground seaweed alone produced appreciable Increases in 

 yield and when supplemented with a pbosphatlc fertilizer a considerable in- 

 crease over the unfertilized checks. At the Cap Rouge Experiment Station 

 (Quebec) observations for 2 years with potatoes and oats showed 100 lbs. 

 each of sodium nitrate, a 2:2.5 mixture of acid phosphate and basic slag, ami 

 muriate of potash, to be equivalent to 980, 730, and 1,920 lbs. of ground seaweed, 

 respectively. 



Can Ohio farmers afford to buy complete fertilizers? C. E. Thokne (Mo. 

 Bui. Ohio Bta., Jf (1919), No. 3, pp. 95, 96). — Indicating the estimated cost and 

 the total and net returns per acre of different fertilizers applied to crops 

 grown in rotation at Germautown (Montgomery Co.) and Carpenter (Meigs 

 Co.) for four years, together with results obtained at Wooster over a period 

 of 21 years, it is deemed best under present conditions "to limit the purchase 

 of fertilizers to acid phosphate and depend upon the manure heap for nitrogen 

 and potash." 



Decomposition of cyanamid and dicyanodiamid in the soil, G. A. Cow if. 

 (Jour. Agr. Sci. [England], 9 (1919), No. 2, pp. 113-136, figs. 6).— The chemistry 

 of the process of decomposition of cyanamid and dicyanodiamid in the soil 

 and of the production of ammonia and nitrate from these compounds is briefly 

 discussed, and vegetation experiments with the compounds at Rotbamsted and 

 Woburn are reviewed. The author reports pot experiments to determine the 

 effect of the compounds on mustard, barley, and rye. as well as studies of 

 their effect on soil bacteria, especially nitrifying organisms. The results are 

 summarized as follows : 



" Cyanamid readily breaks down in the soil, yielding ammonia, which then 

 nitrifies in the usual way. The conversion of cyanamid nitrogen into nitrate 

 is practically quantitative, and its effectiveness as a fertilizer is approximately 

 equal to that of ammonium sulphate. 



"Dicyanodiamid has given no evidence of nitrification in the soil eveu after 

 several months. On the contrary, it is actually toxic to plants, although in 

 small amounts it causes no appreciable injury. It does not affect germination 

 at any of the concentrations used. Dicyanodiamid Is also toxic to the nitrify- 

 ing organisms and stops the normal oxidation of ammonia in soils containing 

 ammonium sulphate. It likewise inhihits the transformation into nitrate of 

 the ammonia produced from cyanamid in the soil and causes an accumula- 



