76/ 



Injuries Due to Fertilizers. 



I : Chili saltpetre. Unfavorable secondary and subsequent effects 

 have often been observed with the use of Chili saltpetre. The cause lies in 

 part in the presence of potassium-hyperchlorate. Numerous cultural experi- 

 ments have proved that grain is especially sensitive and shows striking 

 injuries with 2 per cent, hyperchlorate, while alfalfa, peas and mustard 

 could endure this concentration. In rye, a deformation of the plant was 

 observed when grown as a late crop^. Vegetables, requiring hoeing, and 

 sugar beets were not injured by 2 per cent, hyperchlorate to 200 to 500 kg. 

 saltpetre per hectar-. Jungner and Gerlach^ describe the formal changes in 

 wheat and lye seedlings as follows : The primordial leaf remains for some 

 time partially rolled and encloses the secondary leaf so firmly that it loosens 

 its tip only with difficulty and consequently forms a loop, or knot, in which 

 it is folded crosswise and rolled about its own axis ; it finally may even tear. 

 At the same time a yellowing of the leaf tip takes place and a considerable 

 reduction in the elongation of the whole plant. Retardation of germination 

 \vill occur, in fact, according to the amount of hyperchlorate present. This 

 has not been observed with weak doses. The forming of loops by leaves 

 because of the retention of their tips in^ the sheath of the next older leaf 

 seems to be a marked characterization of grain when poisoned with hyper- 

 chlorate. It is, however, not limited to grain, since similar phenomena occur 

 in Tylenchus devastatrix*. 



Dafert and Halla^ describe a case of the appearance of free iodine in 

 Chili saltpetre which thus gave the odor of iodoform. The saltpetre con- 

 tained 0.31 per cent. KCLO4 and 0.04 per cent. KIO3. In such cases, how- 

 ever, the danger is slight in general agriculture, since it is only necessary to 

 expose the sacks of Chili saltpetre to the air in order to evaporate the iodine. 

 Voelker*^, among others, has showed that the iodids of manganese, potassium, 

 sodium and lithium act injuriously while the oxids are proved to be favorable. 

 In connection with his earlier experiments by which he proved the injurious- 

 ness of larger amounts of sodium iodid and bromid and of lithium chlorid, 

 while, on the other hand, an advance in germination w^as found when the 

 seeds were moistened with more dilute solutions, Maze'^ concludes that the 



1 Ullmann, Martin, In welchem Grade ist Kaliumperchlorat ein Pflanzens:ii't? 

 Die Regelung- des Verkehrs mit Chilisalpeter. Meffe 1901. Cit. Centralbl. f. Agrikul- 

 turcliemie 1903, Part 7. 



2 Stcklasa, Beitrag-e zur Kenntnis des schadlichen Einflusses des Chilisalpeters 

 auf die Vegetation. Z. f. d. landwirtsch. Versuchswesen in Osterreich 1900, p. 35. 



3 Jungner nnd Gerlach, Versuclie niit Kaliumperchlorat. Jahresber. d. landw. 

 Versuehsstation in Jersitz bei Posen 1S97-9S, p. 29. 



* Krijger, Fr. u. Berju, G. Ein Beitrag' zur Giftwirkung- des Chilisalpeters. 

 Centralbl. f. Bakt. II, 1898, Vol. IV. p. 674. 



5 Dafert, F. W., u. Halla, Ad., tJber das Auftreten von freiem Jod im Chilisal- 

 peter. Z. f. d. landw. Versuchswesen in Osterreich 1901. 



6 Voelker, A., iiber den Einfluss von Mangansalzen sowie von Jodiden und 

 Oxyden von Mangan, Kali, Natrium und Lithium auf Gerste und Weizen. Journ. 

 Royal. Agric. Soc. of England, Vol. 64 and 65; cit. Centralbl. f. Agrikulturchemie 

 1905, p. 715. 



7 Maze, Einfluss der in den Pfianzen in geringer Menge enthaltenen Mineral- 

 stoffe auf das Pflanzenwachstum. Biedermann's Centralbl. f. Agrikulturchemie 

 1902, p. 686. 



