soils -FEBTILIZERS. 1141 



Fertilizers on cereal crops grown in rotation, ( '. E. Thorns | Ohio Shi. Qifc. 

 64, pp. 16). This circular summarizes the results of 12 years' experiments on the 

 station farm al Wooster, ll years <>n thetesl farm at Strongsville, in aortheastern 

 ( )hio, and 2 years each on the tesl farms at Germantown in southwestern Ohio and 

 ( larpenter in Bout heastern < >hio. 



The crops grown at Wooster and Strongsville were a 5-year rotation of corn, oats, 

 wheat, clover, and timothy; on the other farms a 3-year rotation of wheat and clover. 

 The fertilizers osed were phosphoric acid in form of acid phosphate alone and com- 

 bined 2 by 2, and all '■> together with potash in form of potassium chlorid and nitro- 

 gen as nitrate of soda. Experiments a1 Wooster with barnyard manure untreated 

 and treated with gypsum, lie >ats, and acid phosphate arc also briefly reported. 



The results show that corn and oats responded profitably to moderate applications 

 of phosphoric acid on the soils experimented with, which are believed to be typical 

 of the soils of the State in general. The addition of potash to phosphoric acid in 

 the fertilizer sometimes, bul not always^gave a profitable increase in the yield of 

 corn and oats. 



The use of potassium seems to be especially indicated in regions where hay and 

 straw, as well as grain, have been sold off the land tor a considerable period, or 

 where tobacco, cabbage, or other crops, in which the entile plant is taken off the 

 farm, have been extensively crown. 



"The complete fertilizer, containing nitrogen and potassium, as well as phosphorus, 

 nearly always produced a larger total increase of corn and oats than any partial fer- 

 tilizer; but when the nitrogen and potassium were purchased in commercial fertilizers 

 their cost was usually greater than the additional gain, oyer that produced by phos- 

 phorus alone, was worth. 



'• The complete fertilizer invariably produced a largef increase in the wheat crop 

 than that given by any partial fertilizer, and on the hard-run land at the main sta- 

 tion, which has been exhaustively cropped with cereals for tin to 7"> years, the addi- 

 tional increase in the wheat and hay crops resulting from the use of the complete 

 fertilizer more than offset its largely increased cost, leaving a larger net gain than 

 that obtained from any partial fertilizer; but on land that had been resting in pas- 

 ture for many years or on land in a high state of fertility the increase from the com- 

 plete fertilizer has not yet been' sufficient to justify its use, if the nitrogen and 

 potassium must he purchased in commercial carriers; but in farm manure nitrogen 

 and potassium may be secured practically without cost, and these experiments have 

 shown that such manure may be made a- effective a carrier of these elements of fer- 

 tility as the most active form j in which they are found in commercial fertilizers." 

 The barnyard manure treated with acid phosphate or floats was an especially effective 

 fertilizer. 



Inoculation of leguminous plants [Jour. Bd. Agr. [London], U {1906),No, n, 

 pp. 641-669, figs. 8). — This is an account of tests by 13 agricultural colleges and 

 experiment stations in Great Britain of Hiltner's nitragin and Moore's inoculating 

 material distributed by the Board of Agriculture. The general plan of the experi- 

 ments include laboratory tests with sterilized soil or sand, pot cultures in unstenlized 

 soils from various sources, and tests in accord with actual agricultural or horticul- 

 tural practice, including inoculation <>t areas of field soil of various sizes. 



"Asa result <>f all the reported experiments, it Beems evident that the cultures 

 used were not uniform; it is not possible, however, to determine the extent t<> which 

 the failures are to be attributed to this cause. It seems, however, from the positive 

 results recorded that not only are these culture- Bometimes able to produce nodules 

 • Hi the roots of plants new to a neighborhood, hut that even in cases where the 



leguminous crop had been grown in the previous year benefil may he derived from 



inoculation. 



