14 



IV. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE ACTION OF 



MURIATE OF POTASH ON THE LIME 



RESOURCES OF THE SOIL. 



By C. a. Goessmann. 



In connection with field experiments carried on for several years 

 upon a field subdivided into eleven distinct plats, it was noticed that 

 upon some of the plats the annual yield decreased, while upon others 

 but little change could be observed. The young growth upon the 

 affected plats showed a lighter color and was on the whole less vigor- 

 ous than elsewhere upon the plats. 



The field in question covers an area of nearly one and one-half 

 acres and is subdivided, as stated, into eleven plats one-tenth of one 

 acre each of uniform size and shape. A space of five feet in width 

 separates the adjoining plats from each other. These spaces were 

 neither manured nor seeded ^down. They were kept free from weeds 

 by means of a cultivator. The ground is nearly on a level. The 

 soil consists of a somewhat sandy loam from three to four feet in 

 thickness. Through the center of each plat was laid a line of drain 

 tiles at a depth of from three to four feet terminating in a bricked 

 and cemented well to permit a collection of the drainage waters, if 

 desired, from each plat before they reached the main drain. The 

 entire field is surrounded l)y a layer of drain tiles to protect it against 

 an access of the drainage from adjoining fields. 



The fei-tilizers used upon the different plats have been for several 

 succeeding years essentially the same in case of each plat, varying 

 merely in regard to the quantities of the same ingredients used. One 

 plat was manured with stable manure of known composition, the 

 remainder received their phosphoric acid supply in the form of dis- 

 solved bone bhick. Some plats received their potash in the form of 

 muriate of potash while others obtained it in form of potash-mag- 

 nesia sulphate. The nitrogen supply consisted in case of some 

 plats of nitrate of soda, in others of sulphate of ammonia or dried 

 blood. Three plats did not receive nitrogen in any form in their 



