^S7 



natural highland moor the content amounted to more than 2 per cent, and 

 through sanding, liming, and fertilizing became reduced to possibly 0.3 per 

 cent. 



These same investigators found the bacterial flora only sparsely de- 

 veloped, as a result of the acid soil in the highland moor, and also but little 

 increased by draining. On the other hand, a great increase was found after 

 sanding, liming and fertilizing together with the necessary attendant work- 

 ing of the soil. Sand introduced new bacteria, stable manure furnished rich 

 nutriment of such a kind that the bacterial content become as great as in a 

 lowland moor under the same cultural conditions. In both the bacterial con- 

 tent increases and falls directly with the soil temperature. 



The experiences of practical workers disagree greatly as to the use of 

 stable manure. In many places there has been failure. But, on the other 

 hand, reports are found, which determine a very beneficial effect from stable 

 manure even on moors with a large nitrogen content, as Count Schwerin 

 reports^ 



This contradiction can be explained as follows. Even in moors, which 

 contain nitrogen in excess, fertilizing with stable manure can act very bene- 

 ficially if the moor is but little decomposed, the nitrogen in it therefore being 

 probably still in a form not easily taken up (for example in organic com- 

 pounds). On cultivated moors, however, the yields after fertihzation with 

 manure are actually poor and the weeds grow in excessive quantities because 

 an excess of nitrogen probably makes itself felt, due to the addition of ma- 

 nure without the sufficient counterbalance of a phosphate and calcium supply. 



Potassium is a factor primarily involved in the cultivation of moors. 

 This holds good also for moor-meadows, on which, however, a good hay 

 harvest, according to M. Fleicher^, requires the addition of phosphoric acid 

 (Thomas slag) besides potassium. (In this connection, he warns against 

 over-fertilizing if the ground water level does not lie deeper than 20 to 40 

 cm.). The form in which the potassium is given may also be determinative 

 in the majority of cases, for Tacke^ obtained the best results for potatoes 

 with potassium chlorid. While the tubers contained 17.67 per cent, starch 

 without fertilizing and 17.02 per cent, when fertilized with kainit, and only 

 16.48 per cent, with karnallite, they contained 18.02 per cent, with the ad- 

 dition of potassium chlorid. The fertilizers were added in the fall ; spring 

 fertilizing reduced the quantity and quality of the tubers. Hensele** 

 found in his potato cultural experiments that kainit on meadow 

 moor soils considerably repressed the starch content of the potatoes. 

 In comparative cultures on mineral and moor soils, the yields from the for- 

 mer were larger and the starch content of the moor potatoes never equaled 

 that of the tubers from a mineral soil or that of the seed. 



1 Mitt. d. Ver. z. Ford. d. Moorkultur, 1895, Part 6. 



2 Milchzeitung 1887, No. 8. 



3 Mitt. d. Ver. z. Ford d. Moorkulture 1895, No. 6. 



4 Hensele, J. A., Bericht der Moorkulturstation, "Erding-er Moos," 1900-01. Cen- 

 tralbl. f. Agrik.-Chemie, 1903, Part 3. 



