1894.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 



249 



Fertilizer Mixtures used — Concluded. 



Box VII. 

 160 grams potash-magnesia sul- 

 phate. 

 100 grams dissolved bone-black. 

 75 grams sulphate of ammonia. 



Box VIII 

 160 grams potash-magnesia sul- 



2)hate. 

 100 grams dissolved bone-black. 

 100 (rrams nitrate of soda. 



Box IX. 

 160 gi'ams potash-magnesia sulphate. 

 100 grams dissolved bone-black. 

 110 frrams dried blood. 



The lettuce seeded in the boxes containing muriate of 

 potash as the potash source proved a complete failure, as 

 the young plants attained a height of only one and one-half 

 inches, the color of the leaves changed into various shades 

 of red, and growth ceased. In the other boxes the results 

 were less striking, but the most satisfactory gro^i;h was 

 obtained in those boxes in which sulphate of potash or sul- 

 phate of potash-magnesia furnished the source of potash. 



Less marked was the difference in growth of the New 

 Zealand spinach, the plants growing in the boxes containing 

 muriate of potash being less vigorous, yet the difference at 

 the close of the experiment was less marked, except in 

 regard to the time required to reach perfection. The most 

 striking thing noticed with regard to these preliminary 

 experiments was in relation to the apparently injurious 

 effect of muriate of potash on lettuce. This result induced 

 us to repeat the experiment in the vegetation house during 

 the winter of 1893-94, for the exact quantities required to 

 give the most beneficial results can obviously only be ascer- 

 tained by a series of observations.* 



