BULLETIN 288 



SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE EFFECT OF 

 BORAX IN FERTILIZERS. 



W. J. Morse. 



SUMMARY 



Unexpected and material losses in the form of partial or 

 almost total crop failure occurred in 1919 on a large number of 

 Maine potato fields where the customary relatively large appli- 

 cations of commercial fertilizer were made. Injury to the parts 

 of the plants below ground was apparent early in the season. 

 In severe cases many plants failed to reach the surface of the 

 ground and those that grew had a characteristic appearance 

 differing from types of injury or disease previously observed. 



Field studies, covering a wide variety of conditions, showed 

 that these losses were, for the most part, confined to the fields 

 where fertilizers manufactured by certain individual companies 

 were applied. Moreover the trouble appeared to be associated 

 with the potash used in the manufacture of these fertilizers, for 

 it did not occur where the no-potash fertilizers put out by the 

 same concerns were used. 



The Station chemist found boron present in appreciable 

 amounts in these fertilizers wherever samples could be obtained 

 of those used on the fields where the type of injury in question 

 appeared. No definite cases of similar injury were observed 

 where it could be shown that borax-free fertilizers carrying 

 approximately similar amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash were applied. 



Limited experiments have been made with pot cultures in 

 the greenhouse in which fertilizers containing borax were ap- 

 plied to potatoes, beans, oats, wheat and buckwheat. 



With potatoes samples of 6 different lots of fertilizer sold 

 in Maine in 1919 were used. At the rate of application the 

 amount of anhydrous borax used varied from nothing to 38.6 

 pounds per acre, the most extensive trials being at the rate of 

 17.6 pounds per acre. 



