CHAPTER IV 



PHYSIOLOGY and' MINERAL 

 NUTRITION 



By 

 ■' HENRY C. HARRIS AND ROGER W. BLEDSOE^ 



The subject of this chapter is so broad in scope and so detailed that its 

 treatment necessitates a Hmited discussion of any particular topic. In a 

 limited space the authors have attempted to cover most contributions, al- 

 though some foreign publications are inaccessible (23, 24, 25) and un- 

 doubtedly others have been omitted unavoidably since the data are pre- 

 sented in many languages. 



Various aspects of plant physiology have advanced considerably in 

 recent years, yet the application of that knowledge to the solution of 

 problems associated with the peanut plant has been much neglected and 

 little organized work has been done. After reviewing the work, the 

 writers have the impression that greater clarity and new information 

 might be gained by applying more precise methods in planning experi- 

 ments and in evaluating experimental results. Some authors do not in- 

 clude enough experimental data to enable others to repeat experiments 

 described. Frequently contributions deal with questions of local im- 

 portance. Other papers merely emphasize the inconsistencies of yields 

 from fertilizer trials without attempts to explain why such occurred. Some 

 problems, namely, the absorption of ions by the gynophore or developing 

 fruit and the necessity of such for fructification, have received consider- 

 able attention in recent years. To some extent, agreement has been 

 reached on the essentials of that problem. Many phases of physiology of 

 the peanut plant have been omitted due to the absence of published data ; 

 other phases are discussed briefly since they are assumed to be similar to 

 that of most plants as given in general references (41, 50, 56, 60). 



'^ Henry C. Harris and Roger W. Bledsoe are agronomists, Florida Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. 



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