﻿4 BULLETIN 1126, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



soil as little as 1 pound per acre injured tobacco. The authors state 

 that colloidal absorption is an important factor in enabling plants 

 to tolerate Larger quantities of borax when grown on clay soils. 



The effect of borax on Sassafras loam (a brown or yellowish brown 

 moderately heavy loam with a reddish yellow subsoil) in New Jersey, 

 as presented by Blair and Brown (2), was to depress the yield of 

 potatoes when as much as 30 pounds per acre was used in the drill 

 and the seed planted immediately, while no appreciable decreased 

 yield resulted with 50 pounds when the planting of seed was delayed. 

 With 100 pounds of borax per acre the yield was cut one half. Where 

 fertilizers were sown broadcast 50 pounds of borax per acre markedly 

 decreased the yields. Applications of 100, 200, and 400 pounds of 

 borax per acre either prevented germination or resulted in delayed 

 germination. With corn, where fertilizers were applied in the drill, 

 there was some depression in yield beginning with the 5-pound appli- 

 cation, and with 50 pounds per acre and over the injury was severe. 

 When the fertilizer was sown broadcast at the rate of 50 pounds of 

 borax per acre there was a marked decrease in 3aeld. It is noted that 

 the rainfall at New Brunswick during the summer of 1920 was un- 

 usually heavy, there being a precipitation of 2.01 inches in the 10 

 days following the fertilizer application. 



In the experiments on the Caribou loam 2 (a yellowish brown silt 

 loam with yellow subsurface soil and gray subsoil) at Presque Isle, 

 Me., injury occurred with an application as low as 5 pounds of borax 

 per acre when put in the furrow and planting done immediately. As 

 the quantity of borax applied increased, the injury became progres- 

 sively worse. There was a moderate but not excessive rainfall in the 

 early summer, which very likely accounts in part for the difference 

 in the degree of harmfulness shown in this and the New Brunswick 

 experiments. 



The results of the investigation with cotton at Muscle Shoals, 3 Ala., 

 on two soil types showed that harmful effects resulted from the use 

 of a quantity of borax as small as 5 pounds per acre. The use of 10 

 pounds of borax per acre delayed and seriously affected germination. 

 In some cases the plant outgrew its early shock where the smaller 

 quantities were used. The degree of harmfulness of the borax in the 

 experiments planted at different times correlates with the rainfall 

 to a certain extent. When the rainfall was heavy shortly after the 

 fertilizer application was made, the effect of the borax was less. 



Other experiments with cotton on both the Clarksville silt loam (a 

 light-gray silt loam with heavy yellowish subsoil) and Colbert silt 

 loam (a gray-brown silt loam with heavy reddish yellow subsoil) 

 were made at Muscle Shoals, Ala., in cooperation with the Fixed- 

 Nitrogen Research Laboratory. 



SCOPE AND PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATIONS IN 1920. 



Extensive series of tests were made at the department experimental 

 farm at Arlington, Va., on a silty clay loam soil. Corn, Luna beans, 

 snap beans, potatoes, and cotton were grown. Records were kept as 

 to the influence of borax on germination, on early growth, and on the 



* Brown, B. E. Effect of borax in fertilizer on the growth and yield of potatoes. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 

 998, 8 p., 1 fig., 4 pi. 1922. 



* Skinner, J. J., and Allison, F. E. The influence of fertilizers containing borax on the growth and fruit- 

 ing of cotton. Unpublished manuscript. 



