SOIL FERTILITY 149 



cur on soils which have been heavily limed. Batten (29) reported that 

 peanut yields were reduced by applications of 2,700 pounds of lime, and 

 recently Shear and Batten (99) initiated a study to determine the cause 

 of poor growth and a chlorotic condition of peatiuts grown on sandy soils 

 which had been heavily limed. These workers found that the yields of 

 peanuts on heavily limed soils were increased, by the addition of 20 

 pounds per acre of MnSOi applied as a side dressing in June or by a 

 broadcast application of 300 pounds of sulfur before planting. The yield 

 increases were found to be associated with an increase in manganese up- 

 take in both cases. The addition of manganese was found to increase the 

 yield of nuts over the entire pH range studied; however, the beneficial 

 effect was most pronounced at the higher pH levels (approximately 6.9). 

 The shelling percentage was found to be decreased by manganese due to 

 the fact that the growth period was extended, resulting in more immature 

 nuts at harvest time. 



Nelson (81), in North Carolina, has also observed "overliming in- 

 jury" in peanuts, apparently resulting from a deficiency of manganese. 

 An example of such injury is shown in figure 9. 



Workers ( 1 ) at the Alabama Experiment Station report that appli- 

 cations of diiTerent combinations of 10 pounds of zinc sulfate, 5 pounds of 

 borax, 25 pounds of manganese sulfate, and 5 pounds of copper sulfate 

 per acre to a Norfolk sandy loam failed to increase the yield of Spanish 

 peanuts. 



The following elements were added to a Norfolk sandy loam in an 

 experiment conducted by the Georgia Experiment Station (6) : Sulfur, 

 40 pounds; manganese, 25 pounds; magnesium, 75 pounds; zinc, 10 

 pounds ; copper, 10 pounds ; boron, 5 pounds*. None of these materials 

 applied alone or in combination with 500 pounds of limestone gave an in- 

 crease in yield of nuts or hay. In another experiment conducted in a 

 "sulfur-deficient area," Futral (6) reported that sulfate of ammonia was 

 superior to nitrate of soda for Spanish peanuts and suggested that this 

 superiority was due to a sulfur response. 



A summary of experiments conducted on several soils in north 

 Florida (5) shows little effect of additions to peanuts of a minor element- 

 mixture containing 10 pounds of copper sulfate ; 10 pounds of magnesium 

 sulfate ; 5 pounds of zinc sulfate ; and 5 pounds of borax. Harris (57) has 

 recently reported that peanuts grown on an Arredondo loamy fine sand 

 in Florida developed abnormal characteristics which were corrected by 



*The rates reported in this experiment were probably for the salt containing the element rather 

 than the amount of the element itself, a possible exception being sulfur. 



