112 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



for the onion crop. Its effects far exceed those of either of 

 the other elements. 



Our results make it equally evideiii that the continuous use 

 of muriate of potash makes the employment of lime an abso- 

 lute necessity. The combined cost of the muriate of potash 

 and the lime necessarily used with it is likely to be greater 

 than would be the cost of some other source of potash. 



That the nitrate of soda as well as the muriate of jmtash 

 has proven in some degree injurious when used without lime 

 is made equally evident by our results, for the yield on the 

 co7nhined nitrate of soda and muriate of potash withoitt lime 

 is much inferior to the yield on the muriate alone without 

 lime. It is, indeed, almost the p)Oorest in the field. 



Especial attention is called to the fact, which was very evi- 

 dent on all the p)lots ivhere it was used, that dissolved bone- 

 black greatly promoted the perfect ripening of the crop. By 

 far the best ripened crop on the unlimed p)ortion of the field 

 ivas the crop produced by nitrate of soda and dissolved bone- 

 black. Any other dissolved phosphate would undoubtedly 

 have a similar effect. 



Attention is called, further, to the fact that the dissolved 

 bone-black in large measure corrects the injurious effects fol- 

 lowing the use of muriate of potash. This is made espe- 

 cially evident by the comparison between the yields where 

 dissolved bone-black was used together with nitrate of soda 

 and muriate of potash and where the last two fertilizers were 

 used alone. Where they were used alone, the crop, as has 

 already been pointed out, was almost the poorest in the field, 

 a large share of the plants dying at a very early stage in 

 their growth ; while where the dissolved bone-black was used 

 together with these fertilizers a moderate crop w^as the re- 

 sult. It becomes evident, therefore, that where fertilizers 

 containing a liberal amount of some dissolved phosphate are 

 employed, liming is less necessary than where such phos- 

 phates are not employed. That this should be so is not 

 strange, since all dissolved phosphates contain a large amount 

 of sulfate of lime (land plaster), which, if used in large 

 quantities, produces many of the effects ordinarily following 

 the use of lime. 



