2 BULLETIN" 998, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



certain matters, namely: (1) The effect of different rates of appli- 

 cation of borax per acre when mixed with fertilizer, as compared 

 with equal quantities of fertilizer to which borax was not added, upon 

 the growth and yield of a number of crop plants: (2) the influence 

 of th time and method of application of a fertilizer mixture con- 

 taining borax in varying quantities; and (3) the influence of rain- 

 fall and soil type on the extent of borax injury. Accordingly, co- 

 operative experimental field work was conducted at Presque Isle, Me., 

 on Caribou loam, with potatoes; at New Bunswick, N. J., on Sassa- 

 fras loam, with potatoes and corn; at the Arlington Experimental 

 Farm, Va., on Arlington clay loam with potatoes, corn, cotton. Lima 

 beans, and string beans; and at Muscle Shoals, Ala., on Colbert and 

 Decatur loams with corn and cotton. 



Blair and Brown (7) presented an article in Soil Science giving 

 the results obtained at New Brunswick, N. J., with potatoes and corn. 

 A report by Skinner and Allison (9) on the results obtained with cot- 

 ton at Muscle Shoals, Ala., and at the Arlington Experimental Farm, 

 Va., is shortly to appear. The present bulletin embodies the results 

 obtained at Presque Isle, Me., with potatoes, when grown on Caribou 

 loam (<?, p. 6), the important soil type of that region. 



PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 



The experiments as carried out in Maine were similar to those at 

 the other field stations in that the same fertilizer was used and the 

 rates of application of borax per acre were the same, the only dif- 

 ference being that the quantity of fertilizer applied was 2,000 pounds 

 per acre in Maine and 1,500 pounds per acre in New Jersey. 



What was actually done was to make up a 4-8-4 fertilizer mixture 

 from nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, cottonseed meal, acid 

 phosphate, and muriate of potash, the ammonia being derived 

 equally from the three nitrogen sources. To this 4-8^L mixture were 

 added varying quantities of borax, so that anhydrous borax was 

 applied at the following rates per acre: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 30, 

 50, 100, 200, and 400 pounds. In order properly to compare the in- 

 fluence of the borax, five control plats, to which fertilizer alone was 

 added, were included. To simplify the field work, the plat numbers 

 were made to correspond to the rate of application of borax per 

 acre. That is, plat 1 received 1 pound of borax per acre, plat 10 

 received 10 pounds of borax per acre, and plat 400 received 400 

 pounds of borax per acre. To each plat, irrespective of the quantity 

 of borax added, the same quantity of fertilizer was applied. The 

 land used for the experiment was divided crosswise into three equal 

 sections, in order to provide for the following methods of applying 

 the fertilizer : To the plats in section 1 the normal fertilizer and the 

 fertilizer-borax mixtures were applied in the furrow on May 31, 



