34 



\ 



A and B Laving been cultivated from ten to fifteen years and C and I) having been 

 cultivated over sixty years: 



Lime percent.. .44 .64 .11 .40 



Magnesia do 32 .50 .36 .51 



In view of the above facts, it is not improbable that a similar explanation will suffice 

 for the remarkable results obtained at Rio Grande, N. J. 



In the follow ing table the crop of stalks produced, with the per cents of lime and 

 magnesia in the several soils, is given for purpose of comparison with ratio of lime to 

 magnesia : 



It will be remembered that while each of the above soils had received an application 

 of 300 pounds of Peruvian guano per i ere, the soils C, D, E, and F had, in addition, 

 received 30 bushels of lime per acre. It is also very interesting to observe that as the 

 relative amount of magnesia compared with lime in the above soils fell otf the crop 

 of cane increased. 



For purposes of comparison, the tons of stalks produced per acre, with the per cents 

 of the lime and magnesia, and their ratio, is given for the other soils analyzed : 



In the above list the order of arrangement is according to the ratio of lime to mag- 

 nesia, and it will be seen that the crop from soil N is the only one which is fairly ex- 

 ceptional to the conclusions laid down by Dr. Phipson in his examinations of sugar- 

 cane soils. The ratios of L and I are almost identical, and there is but a ton differ- 

 ence in the yield per acre; also the actual amount of lime present in I is greater than 

 that in L. 



The results at Rio Grande, N. J., in the use of lime show the importance of deter- 

 mining the question asto what fertilizers are best suited for sorghum, not in increasing 

 the crop, but in improving the quality of the juice as to content of sugar and coeffi- 

 cient of purity. 



Especially are experiments desirable in the application of the various lime fertil- 

 izers, as superphosphates, sulphate of lime, quick lime, and powdered limestone. 



SOILS FROM RAPIDES PARISH, LOUISIANA. 



2574-2577. Soils from the cotton plantation of F. Seip, situated on 

 Bayou Rapides, near Alexandria, Kapides Parish, Louisiana: 



All these four samples were taken from tin; same plantation, and their differences 

 simply arise from the greater or less distance from the water course in which the 



