954 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Sodium salts act in two ways, (1) by setting free potash in the soil, and (2) by 

 replacing potash in plants. In case of a crop like barley, the need of the grain for 

 potash is first supplied, and if there is a deficency of potash for the whole plant soda 

 replaces the potash in the leaves and stalks, thus making the potash available for the 

 uses of the grain. It appears, therefore, that sodium salts enable the plant to make 

 the besl possible use of a given amount of potash in the production of grain. 



The author concludes in general that applications of sodium salts in connection 

 with potassium salts result in a greater assimilation of potash, which is shown in a 

 greater total production in the case of barley in which the grain does not participate 

 except to the extent that a part of the potash of the stems and leaves is replaced by 

 soda, leaving the potash available for the production of the grain. 



It is suggested that the plant food value of the elements may be a periodic func- 

 tion of their atomic weights and that elements like potassium of the medium atomic 

 weights may be termed phyto-chemic. 



Manuring- with potash salts, C. Dusserke (Chron. Agr. Vaud, 18(1905), No. 

 S3, pp. 567-575, fig. 1). — A brief account is given of experiments which have been 

 carried on at a number of places in Lausanne since 1898 to determine the value of 

 potash salts as fertilizer for grass lands. 



Soils of widely different geological origin and mechanical and chemical composi- 

 tion were used in these experiments. The total content of potash in the soils varied 

 from 7.9 gm. per kilogram of fine earth in a peaty soil to 22.2 gm. in an alluvial soil. 

 The soluble potash varied from 0.4 gm. in an alluvial soil to 1.28 gm. in an erratic 

 clay soil. There was apparently no strict relation between the total and soluble 

 content of potash in the soil and the effect of the potash salts, although the potash 

 fertilizers were in general beneficial in the Jurassic formations, which are as a rule 

 poor in potash, while in crystalline (granite) formations or in crystalline schists 

 (gneiss), in which potash is abundant, the use of potash fertilizers produced less effect. 



The results in general indicate that through a series of years the use of potash 

 salts was profitable on all the soils experimented with. The liberal use of phos- 

 phatic, nitrogenous, and calcareous fertilizers for a number of years renders the use 

 of potash fertilizers necessary. The amount of assimilable potash in the soil 

 becomes exhausted, and the amount which the soil yields to the plant is not sufficient 

 to meet the demands of the large crops produced by the use of the other fertilizers. 

 The crops which especially require applications of potash are beets, potatoes, tobacco, 

 forage plants, etc 



Kainit, L. Bargeron (Jour. Agr. Prat., n. ser., 10 (1905), No. 48, pp. 688-690).— 

 The various salts included under this general name in France, as well as potash 

 salts from other sources, such as sea- weed ashes, sea water, etc., are briefly discussed. 



A molasses-potash fertilizer, 0. Reitmair [Separate from Wiener Landw. Ztg., 

 1905, Xo. 94, pp. 8). — This article briefly discusses the fertilizing value of the 

 material obtained by drying or by burning the residue from the distillation of 

 molasses. The dry product has been put on the market under the name of chilinit, 

 which contains considerable amounts- of nitrogen as well as potash. The burned 

 product contains a higher percentage of potash but no nitrogen, but is very variable 

 in composition. 



On the successful use of manganese as a fertilizer, G. Bertrand (Compt. 

 Rend. Am,/. Sci. [Paris], 141 (1905), Xo. 26, pp. 1-255-1257; Jour. Agr. Prat., n. ser., 

 11 (1906), No. ..\ pp. 42, 43).— The author refers to his work on laccase as con- 

 vincing him of the physiological importance of manganese, and quotes the work of 

 several other investigators as confirming his conclusions. He reports field experi- 

 ments with oats on two plats both of which received the same. basal fertilizer, but 

 only one was fertilized with manganese sulphate at the rate of 50 kg. per hectare 

 (44.53 lbs. per acre). 



