570 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The (lata piTM-nti-d show tluit the fertilizers applied had in general a favorahle 

 intiiience on the ripening of the grain, l)oth in the case of oats and barley, and on all 

 soils. A rather surprising result is shown in the fact that the fertilization with 

 nitrogen and phosphoric acid both in case of oats and barley gave, on the average, ' 

 smaller iniTease in the weight of kernels than the nitrogen -| potash fertilizers, which 

 suggests that the potash had at least as much influence on the seed formati(jn as the 

 phosphoric acid. It is noted that the results obtained on this point in the experi- 

 ments of 1901, conducted by the author, point in the same direction (E. S. R., 14, p. 



758). F. W. WOLL. 



Cooperative fertilizer experiments in MalmOhus County, Sweden, 1902, 

 M. Weibull {Krart(dssk-)\ Mahnuhiis Ldns K. HmhM. Sdhk., 1903, A'o. 1, pp. 

 146-213). — The report presents a full account of 66 cooperative fertilizer experi- 

 ments conducted under the auspices of the Malmohus County Agricultural Society 

 by the author, with results obtained and discussions. Twenty-three of the experi- 

 ments were with sugar beets, 1 with carrots, 5 with potatoes, and the rest with 

 pastures and small grains. 



Samples of the different kinds of soils on which the trials were conducted were 

 subjected to chemical and mechanical analysis, and the crops harvested were also 

 examined chemically. Discussing the value of the analysis of crops grown for 

 determining the fertilizer requirements of soils the author concludes that a single 

 analysis of grain and straw from an unfertilized plat will not disclose the fertilizer 

 requirements of the soil, but this can be done to a considerable degree of certainty 

 by analyses of plants grown under different systems of fertilization. Fertilizer trials 

 On a light clay soil sown to barley and oats showed that the soil was in need of 

 nitrogen first of all, and then of potash, but not of phosphoric acid. The analysis 

 of the soil itself gave evidence that it contained only a small amount of phosphoric 

 acid or lime (nitrogen, 0.13 per cent; phosphoric acid, 0.06 per cent; potash, 0.09 

 percent; lime, trace; iron oxid, 2.80 percent; aluminum oxid, 3.70 per cent). The 

 results of analyses of the oats grown on the various plats were as follows: 



Analyses of oats grovm on different ■plats. 



Plat A, 110 fertilizer applied 



Plat B, nitrogen 



Plat C, nitrogen + phosphoric acid 



Plat E, nitrogen + phosphoric acid+pot 



ash 



Plat H, phosphoric acid + potash , 



Atterberg's standards: 



Maxima 



Minima 



Average 



Grain. 



Nitrogen. 



Per cent. 

 1.26 

 1.37 

 1.36 



1.32 

 1.24 



1.95-2.72 



1.20-1.36 



1.65 



Phosphoric 

 acid. 



Per cent. 



0.86 



.91 



.96 



.94 



.86 



0. 91-1. 09 



.37- ..50 



.70 



Straw. 



Potash. 



Per cent. 

 1.61 

 1.41 

 1.55 



2.10 



1.86 



2. 21-2. 81 



.28- .73 



1.45 



Lime. Magnesia. 



Per cent. 



0.30 



.28 



.32 



.28 

 .36 



0.58- .75 



. 14- . 21 



.37 



Per cent. 

 0.13 



0. 34- . 43 



.08- .13 



.22 



The results of the analysis of the oats corroborate those oljtained in the fertilizer 

 trials, viz, that the fertilizer requirements of the soil are in the following order: 

 Nitrogen, potash, and lime, with some magnesia. Other examples are given illus- 

 trating the correctness of this method of determining the specific fertilization which 

 a certain soil demands for the production of maximum and economical yields. 



Fertilizer experiments with sugar beets gave the result that the sugar content of 

 the beets was increased slightly, but decidedly, by the ai^plication of nitrate of soda, 

 while both phosphoric acid and potash depressed somewhat the percentage of sugar 

 m the beets and reduced their purity. The richest beets were obtained on the plats 

 receiving nothing but nitrate of soda (200 kg. per hectare, or 189 pounds per acre), 



