MINERAL COMPOSITION' OF CROPS 15 



In Dartmoor, England, it was reported by Patterson (451) in 1937 

 that soils on which sheep suffer from " pining" have a mean cobalt 

 content of 3.9 p. p. m., while lowland soils on which sheep recover 

 have a cobalt content of 16.7 p. p. m. Analyses of the pastures show 

 that those in the unhealthful areas have a mean cobalt content of 

 0.20 p. p. m. and those in the recovery areas 0.45 p. p. m. It was 

 also indicated by Kidson (316) that the cobalt contents of soils in 

 this area are in general related to the magnesium content of their 

 parent rocks. 



In New Zealand (22, 24, 25, 148) it was reported that the cobalt 

 content of soils in bush-sick areas contained only a trace of cobalt as 

 compared with the healthful areas, although "soil results indicate that 

 a low cobalt status of the soil is not always a satisfactory index of the 

 need for cobalt supplements for stock." Generally, however, Kidson 

 (315) believed that "soils affected with 'bush-sickness' and allied stock 

 ailments have comparatively low cobalt contents, often less than 2 p. 

 p. m. of cobalt." It was reported by Josland (308) that 1 mg. C0SO4 

 per 200 gm. of live weight of the animal is not toxic. 



A disease of cattle known as "nakuruitis" has been reported from 

 certain areas of Nakuru, in the Kenya Colony in East Africa, by Orr 

 and Holm (446)- "The top soil in the affected areas consists of mate- 

 rial which has obviously been erupted from the adjoining extinct 

 Menengai volcano." 



Neal and Ahmann (427) in 1937 reported that cobalt was not 

 detected in forage from certain areas in Florida associated with a nutri- 

 tional disturbance in cattle that was cured when cobalt was fed as a 

 supplement, but later work by Rusoff and others (500) failed to 

 demonstrate that cobalt was present in forage from either salt-sick or 

 healthy areas. In fact, a spectrographic estimation of copper and 

 several other trace elements was reported as giving no indications of 

 differences in samples of wire grass collected from these areas. 



A nutritional anemia among children in certain areas of Florida 

 was investigated by Abbott, Neal, and Bryan (2) in 1934. In a brief 

 report they state that in one section situated on soils overlying hard 

 rock phosphate subsoils only 3 percent of the children had anemia, 

 but within a distance of 6 miles, where the soil is for the greater part 

 Leon, located in the flatwoods country, 96 percent of the children were 

 affected. They add: "Hookworm and malaria are known to contrib- 

 ute to this condition, but it was found that the number of children 

 infected with these parasites was comparable in the two localities." 



In a later study by these authors (1) it was reported that the Leon, 

 Portsmouth, and Norfolk series (all low in iron) prevail in those dis- 

 tricts having the highest percentage of anemic children, and that the 

 sands and sandy loams of the Hernando and Hoffman series (all high 

 in iron) predominate in the districts having the lowest percentage of 

 anemia. 



Biceman, Donald, and Piper (484) have recently described what 

 may be a copper deficiency along the southeastern coast of South 

 Australia. The soil is derived from blown calcareous sand containing 

 over 60 percent of CaC0 3 in the surface soil. Sheep grazing the area 

 were reported to suffer from an ailment similar to coast disease. 

 Normal vegetative development was attained with the use of CuS0 4 , 

 but no statement was made relative to any improvement in the sheep. 



