848 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



are briefly summarized, showing that the production of nitrate in Chile in that 

 year was 1,694,665 tons, which is 80,230 tons in excess of the production in 

 L903. The total exports were L,630,488 tons, or 45,745 tons more than in 1903. 

 The statistics show an increase in consumption of nitrate in the United States, 

 but a slight decrease in Europe (France. Belgium, and Italy). 



Calcium cyanamid and its use in agriculture, A. d'Ercole (La calciocianar 

 mide ed il suo migliore impiego in agricoltura. Rome. 1906, ]>j>. 120, pi. 1, figs. 

 15), This elaborate report, published by the Italian Society for the Manufac- 

 ture of Agricultural Products, etc.. after briefly referring to the principal nitro- 

 gen compounds used as fertilizers, discusses the utilization of atmospheric 

 nitrogen, especially in the form of calcium cyanamid. reviewing experiments by 

 various investigators with this substance, and reports in detail a large number 

 of experiments with the substance on all classes of farm crops. The wide appli- 

 cability of this material as a fertUizer is indicated by the results of these experi- 

 ments. 



Thomas-ammonium-phosphate, a new manure; its composition and results 

 of manurial experiments in 1904, Miller (Illus. Landw. Ztg., 25 (19f)~>). 

 Wo. 32, j>i>. 303, 304; abs. '» Jour. (Item. Soc. [London]. 88 (1905), Wo. :>H>. U. 

 p. 650). — This material is a mixture of Thomas slag or superphosphate and 

 ammonium salts. In experiments with wheat, oats. rye. potatoes, and inangel- 

 wurzels a mixture of slag and ammonium salts gave very satisfactory results. 

 The fertilizer should be applied as a top dressing. There is little loss of nitro- 

 gen from the mixture if it is used soon after its preparation. 



Ground rock for fertilizing purposes, A. S. Cushman {Science, n. ser., 

 .12 (1905), So. 513, pp. 838, 839). — Attention is called to a series of experiments 

 with tobacco seedlings which it is claimed showed " that fine-ground orthoclase 

 was very nearly, if not quite, as efficient as a source of potash plant food as the 

 more soluble potash salts which are in ordinary use." and it is suggested that 

 with improvements in methods and machines for grinding rock and transporta- 

 tion facilities " not only some of our feldspar deposits but even our richer 

 potash-bearing feldspathic rock, like some of the granites," may be profitably 

 employed as a source of potash. 



Potassium salts, W. M. Courtis (E.rtr. from Mineral Resources of the United 

 states, 190Jj. V. 8. Geol. Survey, 1905. pp. 16). — This paper gives statistics of 

 the potash industry of Germany and discusses the possibility of finding potash 

 and attempts to locate deposits in the United States. 



Indications of possible potash deposits found in saline springs, oil wells, and 

 bore holes, and in desert deposits are described, with determinations of potash 

 in salts from various saline springs and desert deposits in California and 

 Nevada. Seven localities in the United States which seem to offer favorable 

 conditions for the discovery of potash deposits by boring are named as follows : 

 Cody, Wyo. : Magnesian Lake, near Laramie. YVyo. : Byron Springs. Contra 

 Costa Co., Cal. ; Death Valley. Cal. ; Sierra de las Cucapas basin. Lower Cali- 

 fornia, extending into San Diego Co., Cal. ; Boundbrook, X. J. ; and Mount Tom, 

 Mass. The report contains a bibliography of potass-hun salts. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Relation of transpiration to growth in wheat, B. E. Livingston (Bot. Gaz:. 

 -'/() (1905), No. -I pp. 178-195, figs. 21). — Investigations are reported on the rela- 

 tion between transpiration and the growth of wheat, cultures being grown in 

 soil in wire baskets covered with paraffin, and water cultures grown in black 

 bottles were used for comparison. 



