SOILS FEKTILIZEKS. 923 



The results of the exiteriuients with various coniliiuatious of fertilizers were 

 too complex for definite eonclusious, hut it was found that of the phosphates, 

 including hone meal, mineral i)hosphate. and Thomas slaj;, the hone meal gave 

 the hest results, and of the potash fertilizers, including sul])hate of i)otash, 

 nuiriate of potash, and lencite, the sulphate and leucite were nearly equally 

 etiicient. (Jypsnm was less effective than lime. The greater efficiency of the 

 bone meal is attributed to the fact that it furnished the most favorable con- 

 ditions for the action of micro-organisms which render cyanamid available. 



In the comparative tests of the different nitrogenous fertilizers on clayey 

 calcareous soil applied in various ways the two nitrates gave very nearly the 

 same result as sulphate of ammonia. In case of the latter the most favorable 

 method of application was half at sowing and half as a top-dressing later. With 

 the cyanamid. api)lication slK)rtly before sowing and thonsugh mixing with the 

 Soil gave best results. 



Field experiments with lime nitrogen, sulphate of ammonia, and nitrate 

 of soda, TANCRfi {Landw. Wchnbl. Schles. Hoist., 5fi (1908), No. 51, pp. 

 S70-S7S). — Comparative tests of these fertilizers with rye, oats, barley, and 

 beets are reported. The results in general were very favorable to the lime 

 nitrogen, even in rainy seasons on heavy soils, the physical properties of which 

 were injuriously affected by nitrate of soda. 



Contribution to the ammonia question, I, P. EHRENBERG(Lrt»//H7. Vers. Stat., 

 (i9 WJ(hS), Xo. 3-'i, pp. 2o9-.><i'i. pi. I; ahs. in Chcm. '/Ay., 32 (190S), No. 93, 

 Rcpcrt., p. 599; Cheni. Zciitbl.. 1908, 11, No. 21i, p. 1893; Jour. Chem. Soc. [Lon- 

 don], 9i (1908), No. 55J,, 11. p. 1068; Chem. Abs., 3 (1909), No. 7, p. 8/7).— This 

 article reviews the work of other investigators on changes in the reaction of 

 soils due to application of lime and nitrogenous fertilizers, and reports a series 

 of pot experiments by the author in which white mustard, sorghum, buckwheat, 

 corn, barley, and oats were grown in pure sand and in mixtures of sand and 

 moor soil in small glass jars with various coml)inations of lime and other fertil- 

 izing materials furnishing physiologically acid or physiologically alkaline condi- 

 tions in the soil. 



The results were variable and did not in all cases confirm the conclusions of 

 other investigators on this subject. It was apparent, however, that the differ- 

 ence in behavior in ammonium salts and nitrate combinations was due to 

 difference in physiological reaction brought about by the use of these combina- 

 tions. When nitrate was used the assiniihitiou of the nitrogen set free the base, 

 which tended to neutralize acid conditions in the soil and thus favored the 

 growth of the crops. With ammonium salts the opposite effect was produced. 

 .Mustard and buckwheat are decidedly sensitive to acid conditions in the soil 

 and were esi)ecially benefited by liming. Sorghum was less sensitive and less 

 benefited by lime. Corn was the least sensitive of the crops experimented with. 



The injurious effects t)f crude ammonia in vineyards, A. Ukrget (Rev. Vit., 

 30 (1908), No. 768, pp. 257-259). — Serious injury to grapes resulting from the 

 uac of sni lbs. of this material per acre is reported, and 1.7S3 lbs. per acre 

 should not be exceeded in any case. 



Ammonium sulphate, F. J. I.i.oyu and U. Bonelli (Chem. News, 98 (1908), 

 \(t. 25 'i9. pp. 172. 173; Chem. Trade ./our., .}3 (1908), p. 362; abs. in Chem. 

 ZruthL, 1908, II, No. 18. p. 1538; Anali/st, 33 (1908). No. 393. p. //N.i).— Atten- 

 tion is called to the fact that connnercial ammonium sulphate may contain im- 

 purities (coal-tar derivatives) which unfit it for use as a fertilizer, since these 

 inijturities are injurious to higher plants and interfere with the action of the 

 nucro-organisms in the soil. The presence of these compounds is shown by a 



.S23J)4— No. 10—0!) .'j 



