320 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



portions of the coast where such rocks and stones are not present ; that is, in 

 sandy or muddy bays or estuaries. The process of so-called cultivation here 

 described consists in providing suitable anchorage, generally large stones, be- 

 tween the tide marks in such localities, upon which the seaweed may be made 

 to grow. 



Experiments with, a kieselguhr-sulphite fertilizer, L. Keen (Papier Ztg., 40 

 (1915), Xo. 10, pp. 194-196; abs. in Chem. Abs., 9 (191^), No. 8, p. 1086).— A 

 mixture consisting of equal parts of waste sulphite liquor from chemical pulp 

 mills and impure kieselguhr, containing appreciable amounts of soluble potash, 

 phosphates of lime, and soluble silica, was found to be easy to distribute and to 

 be of considerable fertilizing value. 



Experiments with hay crops showed that the sulphurous acid of the waste 

 liquor had passed into harmless compounds. An analysis of a sample of the 

 mixture gave the following results : Loss on ignition, 36.74 per cent ; nitrogen, 

 0.15; total sulphates, 4.04; silica soluble in hot hydrochloric acid, 0.099; silica 

 soluble in caustic soda solution, 33.39 ; iron and alumina, 1.33 ; lime, 4.43 ; 

 magnesia, 0.15 ; phosphoric acid, 0.99 ; and potash, 0.48 per cent. The value of 

 this mixture as a fertilizer is attributed largely to its considerable content of 

 soluble silica. The organic matter present in the mixture also appeared to be 

 beneficial in soils deficient in humus and furnished a favorable medium for 

 bacterial growth. 



Agricultural lime analyses (Md. Agr. Col. Quart., No. 68 (1915), pp. 11). — 

 Actual and guarantied chemical analyses of 1.33 samples of agricultural lime 

 offered for sale in Maryland during the period from June, 1914, to May, 1915, 

 and mechanical analyses of 16 samples of ground limestone and ground oyster 

 shell are reported, together with a brief statement on the use of lime. The text 

 of the Maryland lime-inspection law is also given. A warning is given against 

 the purchase of so-called stone-meal fertilizer, which, it is stated, contains 

 approximately only 20 per cent of calcium and magnesium oxids and no soluble 

 potash or phosphoric acid. 



Favorable action of manganese on the bacteria of leguminous plants, M. D. 

 Olaku (Compt. Rend. Acad. Set. [Paris], 160 (1915), No. 8, pp. 280-283; abs. 

 in Chem. Abs., 9 (1915), No. 11, p. 1525). — Experiments on the effect of manga- 

 nese on the nitrogen-fixing bacteria from the root nodules of leguminous plants 

 are reported. 



Manganese sulphate was added to a nutritive medium (containing 2 per 

 cent sucrose), in which the bacteria were cultivated, in amoimts varying from 

 1 part per 10,000,000 to 1 part per 100,000. After incubating at 19° C. for 48 

 hours, it was found that the maximum increase in nitrogen was obtained when 

 the manganese was present in the strength of 1 part per 200,000 of nutritive 

 medium. Two other experiments with a slightly weaker nutritive medium 

 which contained less initial nitrogen, extending over 50 and 114 days, showed 

 that the optimum quantity of manganese was 1 part per 50,000 of nutritive 

 medium in each case. The nitrogen increases in the presence of manganese 

 were in all cases considerably greater than in the controls. 



From these results the use of manganese as a fertilizer is thought to be 

 important from the standpoint of the bacterial fixation of nitrogen. 



Mussels as manure (Jour. Bd. Agr. [London], 22 (1915), No. 2, pp. 156, 

 /57).— From an inquiry made by the Board of Agriculture of England into the 

 raanurial value of mussels it was found that in some cases "mussels would 

 have a certain manurial value. The whole mussel (shell and contents) would 

 seem to contain from 0.7 to 1 per cent of nitrogen, 0.14 to 0.54 per cent of 

 phosphate, and from 0.09 to 0.13 per cent of potash." The mussel shells con- 



