326 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Manuring of farm crops (Armstrong Col., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Agr. Dept. 

 Bui. 11, pp. S). — Directions based upon field experiments at Cockle Park and 

 elsewhere in the northern counties of England for the use of manures and 

 commercial fertilizers on various crops, including rutabagas (swedes), turnips, 

 potatoes, mangels, cabbages, barley, oats, wheat, beans, and grass and clover 

 mixtures, are given. The directions take account of the shortage in supply 

 of potash salts and restrict, or entirely eliminate, the use of potash. 



Influence of org-anic substances on the decomposition and action of ni- 

 trogenous compounds in the soil, Geelach {Mitt. Kaiser Wil helms Inst. 

 Landw. Brovihcrg, 6 {1915), No. 5, pp. 309-327). — Pot experiments on this 

 subject have already been noted (E. S. R., 27, p. 626). 



The experiments here reported were made with pits each containing 1 cubic 

 meter of soil. Otherwise the method of investigation was substantially the 

 same as in the pot experiments, and the results were in the main the same. 

 The organic matter was applied in the form of ground straw used in varying 

 amounts alone and in combination with sodium nitrate. 



The results were inconclusive as to the value of the straw alone for increas- 

 ing the productiveness of the soil. They were, however, conclusive as regards 

 the effect of such substances in reducing the assimilation of nitrate nitrogen. 

 When the nitrate nitrogen was used alone 60 per cent of the amount applied 

 was recovered in the crop. When it was applied in combination with straw 

 only 20 per cent was recovered in the crop. 



Conditions of Chilean nitrate industry, V. L. Havens (17. S. Dept. Com., 

 Com. Rpts., No. 13 {1915), p. 1249). — The conditions as regards production, 

 plants in operation, wages, freight rates, and prices up to and including Jan- 

 uary, 1915, are briefly summarized. 



The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, W. S. Landis {Metallurg. and Cheni. 

 Engln., 13 {1915), No. 4, pp. 213-220, figs. 17; Jour. Indus, and Engvn. Chem., 

 7 {1915), No. 5, pp. 433-438, figs. 3; ais. in Amer. Jour. Sci., 4. ser., 39 {1915), 

 No. 234, pp. 676, 677). — This article deals particularly with the cyanamid 

 process and the factory established at Niagara Falls to manufacture nitrogen 

 compounds by this process. 



Fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, L. L. Summers {Ainer. Fert., 42 {1915), 

 No. 6, pp. ^i-53). — ^The various processes of fixation of atmospheric nitrogen 

 which have shown promise of practical success are described and their com- 

 mercial possibilities are discussed. 



Is the loss of lime from the soil increased by kainit fertilizing? Geblach 

 and Veckenstedt {Mitt. Kaiser Wilhelms Inst. Landw. Bromberg, 6 {1915), 

 No. 5, pp. 382-388). — The results of pot experiments here reiwrted show that 

 fertilizing with kainit caused a marked increase in the loss of lime in the 

 drainage water. This loss was greater with kainit than with other fertilizing 

 materials. There was, however, a considerable loss of nitrogen from unfer- 

 tilized soils. It was also observed that the loss was much greater in very 

 loose soil than in soil in natural condition. An examination of 120 different 

 soils showed that the lime content of the subsoil was uniformly greater than 

 that of the surface soil. 



Manuring experiments with manganese carbonate in Italy, G. D'Ippolito 

 {Agr. Mod. [Milan], 20 {1914), ^o. 17, pp. 259, 260; ais. in Internat. Inst. Agr. 

 [Rome], Mo. Bui. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 5 {1914), No. 11, pp. 1424, 

 1425). — A marked increase in yield of wheat and alfalfa from applications of 

 ISO lbs. per acre of a natural manganese carbonate (35 per cent carbonate) and 

 of a natural phosphocarbonate (containing 35 per cent carbonate and 11 per 

 cent phosphoric acid) is reported. 



