1920] SOILS FERTILIZERS. 23 



PI). 20-24,' S, pp. 30-36). — Tlie results of a munber of different experiments on 

 the subject are reported. 



Experiments on the treatment of waste soils with peat and moor soils which 

 had been treated with from 20 to 40 per cent lime showed tluit the peat-lime 

 mixture had a marked effect in increasini; crop yields and in making available 

 the nutrients in the soil. More extensive pot experiments with oats, in which 

 peat litter was used treated wuth lime, showed that the peat-lime mixture 

 alone was unfavorable. The addition of a mixture of peat and molasses also 

 did not increase crop yields. 



In further experiments, strongly decomposed moor soil was used which was 

 treated with potassium carbonate. The moor soil alone had a favorable effect 

 upon crop yield, and this was marketlly increased by treatment with potassium 

 carbonate. 



A comparison of raw peat with peat treated with potassium carbonate and 

 molasses on beets and potatoes showed that the raw peat had a favorable effect 

 upon crop yield, but that the treated peat gave no better i-esults than the raw 

 peat, owing, it is thought, to the addition of organic nitrogen-free matter to the 

 soil. Experiments with a bacterized peat .showed the undoubted favorable action 

 of such a peat fertilizer on the yield of potatoes. 



Experiments by others bearing on the subject are also discussed and sum- 

 marized. 



Experiments in various methods of covering with sand and fertilizing 

 upland peat bogs, J. Hansen {Tid.sskr. Plantearl, 26 (1919), No. 4, pp. 553- 

 624). — Experiments conducted at the Askov Experiment Station during the 

 years 1899 to 1916, inclusive, are reported, the main object of which was to 

 observe the effect of covering a typical upland peat bog with a layer of mineral 

 soil. The peat was from 3 to 5 meters (10 to 16 ft.) deep. Sections of the 

 field were covered with 5.2 cm. and 10.4 cm. (2 and 4 in.) of sand which was 

 then mixed with the peat soil to the depth of the plowed furrow. 



The crops grown were rye, horse-beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, swedes, oats, 

 clover, and grass. In the beginning there was a considerable decrease in the 

 crop of rye, potatoes, turnips, swedes, and to some extent oats, as a result of 

 covering with sand. During the later years of the experiment these crops, 

 with the exception of potatoes, were much larger on sand covered soil than on 

 uncovered soil. An average of the results of the whole period showed that 

 rye was practically unaffected by the sand covering, and that potatoes gave 

 the largest crop on uncovered soil and the smallest on soil thickly sand covered. 

 The crop of turnips and swedes was somewhat smaller, but the yield in dry 

 substance was about the same from covered soil as from uncovered soil. Oats 

 yielded more grain and less straw on covered than on uncovered soil and the 

 thickness of the covering was of little or no importance. Le.guminous crops — 

 clover and grass — showed a constant increase depending on the thickness of the 

 covering. 



In connection with the sand covering experiments, an experiment was con- 

 ducted with stable manure plus artificial fertilizers and artificial fertilizers 

 alone. The better results were obtained with artificial fertilizers alone. 



Maintaining the soil fertility on AVisconsin dairy farms, F. L. Musbach 

 (Wis. Farmers' Insts. Bui. 32 (1919), pp. .55-63 figs. 2).— Studies of the average 

 income and outgo of phosphorus from 10 dairy farms in northwestern Wis- 

 consin, where cream is the principal cash product, showed that more than one- 

 third of the nitrogen, two-thirds of the potassium, and about one-sixth of the 

 phosphorus disappeared. A study of the average income and outgo of phos- 

 182230°— 20 3 



