210 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The largest increase in fruit was from the use of sodium nitrate 

 with acid phosphate, and the next best yield was from the ni- 

 trate with potash salts, while nitrate of soda alone was more 

 effective than either of the other substances used singly. The 

 actual character of the soil to which the fertilizers were applied 

 is not stated, but from the general description of the bog it is 

 inferred that the soil was a deep peat with the usual surface 

 layer of sand. 



In ]\Iassachusetts Brooks began a fertilizer test in 1906.^ 

 Three years later he reported " that nitrate of soda greatly ])ro- 

 moted the growth of vines, and seemed to be favorable to fruit- 

 fulness, but when used in excess of 100 pounds per acre the 

 growth of vines was liable to be too luxuriant. High-grade sul- 

 fate of potash was decidedly favorable, and the maximum yield 

 was obtained from a heavy dressing of this salt supjilemented 

 by a moderate application of nitrate of soda and acid phosphate. 

 The soil of the Massachusetts bog was not a deep peat, but a 

 sand colored with peat as shown by a chemical analysis which 

 revealed less than 2 per cent, of organic matter. In this in- 

 stance there is evidence of a low potential fertility, which does 

 not help clear up the problem of the use of fertilizers on a true 

 peat soil. 



When peat soils have been well drained and planted to com- 

 mon farm crops like corn, they have not been found to require 

 nitrogen, but have been noticeably improved by the addition of 

 potash salts and phosphates.^ The conditions required by corn 

 and staple farm crops differ, however, very much from those 

 required by the cranberry. In the former conditions drainage 

 is maintained continuously as a rule, while in the latter case the 

 soil is saturated and even flooded through nearly three-fourths 

 of the year. In the former case nitrification is favored, but in 

 the latter case it is hindered, which may account for the agree- 

 ment of all three fertilizer tests in showing an increase of fruit 

 upon applications of nitrate of soda. 



A consideration of the methods followed by cranberry growers 

 in regulating the water supply of their bogs is helpful in connec- 



> Brooks, Wm. P., Ann. Rept., Mass. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1908, p. 17. 

 2 Ann. Rept., Mass. As:r. Exp. Sta., 1910, p. 32. 



' Hopkins, C. O., Soil Fertility, Ginn & Co.. 1910, pp. 471-472; Whitson, A. R., Ann. Kept., 

 Wis. Agr. Exp. SU., 1905. 



