SOIL FERTILITY 



129 



the yields of peanuts closely followed the incidence of the disease. These 

 data would suggest that in some cases the beneficial effect of nitrogen 

 may be due to its secondary influence in reducing the severity of this 

 disease. 



The results of experiments conducted over a 10-year period at the 

 Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station (13) show a small, progres- 

 sive increase in peanut yields with each increment of nitrogen up to 32 

 pounds. The maximum response, however, was only 151 pounds of nuts. 

 In another single-element experiment there was little effect on yields of 

 withholding nitrogen from a complete fertilizer (12). 



As the result of several years of experimentation, workers at the 

 North Carolina Station (43, 47) have concluded that nitrogen fertilizers 

 have little effect upon the yields of large-seeded peanuts. 



Several experiments conducted in Mississippi and reported by West 

 (112) show little beneficial effect of 16 or 32 pounds of nitrogen in a 

 complete fertilizer. In some cases the addition of nitrogen tended to re- 

 sult in a lower yield of nuts. The results of other work reported by West 

 show responses of 200 to 300 pounds of nuts from the application of 100 

 pounds of nitrate of soda as a side dressing. 



McClelland (68) in Arkansas, has reported that the addition of 18 

 pounds of nitrogen to a White Spanish variety resulted in an increased 

 yield of 1,188 pounds of nuts and 1.38 tons of hay. 



Earlier work at the Alabama Experiment Station (49) indicated that 

 nitrogen was of little value in peanut fertilizers. However, more recent 

 experiments (1, 107) have revealed some marked responses from the ad- 

 dition of nitrogen to Spanish peanuts. The data in table 2, obtained by 

 the Alabama workers, show that in 1943 the yield of nuts was more than 

 doubled by the addition of 120 pounds of nitrogen as nitrate of soda to a 



Table 2. — The Response of Spanish Peanuts to Additions of Nitrogen on a 

 Norfolk Sandy Loam. Reported by Alabama Agricultural Experiment 



Station. (1) 



»A1I plots received 1,000 pounds of superphosphate and 250 poynds of njuriate of potash per agre. 



