12 MISC. PUBLICATION 3 69, U. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Ten samples of Michigan alfalfa hay examined by Reed and Huff- 

 man {^78) had a phosphorus content well below the average for alfalfa 

 shown in the appendix of this publication. 



Phosphorus-deficient areas have been reported from various local- 

 ities in Wisconsin by Hart and others {242), but apparently no rela- 

 tionships have been determined between the occurrence of the disease 

 and the soils or the nature of the forage. Mineral-deficient areas have 

 also been suspected in Merced County, Calif., according to Hart and 

 Guilbert (245). Soil studies have not been reported, however, from 

 this area. 



A recent survey in Pennsylvania {193) is reported to have failed to 

 reveal any deficiency of phosphorus in the forage of that State. It 

 had been assumed that since a large proportion of the soils in the State 

 are responsive to phosphate fertilization, there might be a deficiency 

 in the forages in some places. The conclusions were that the data 

 obtained did not support this assumption. 



Studies of the Relation of Soils to the Nutritional Anemias 



The properties of soils in many parts of the world have been described 

 in connection with the occurrence of troubles in which anemia has 

 been reported as a symptom. From the discussion that follows it is 

 not to be inferred, of course, that a direct connection with soil condi- 

 tions has been established, but it will be noted that evidence has 

 repeatedly been produced that would indicate significant differences in 

 soils associated with healthy animals and those associated with affected 

 ones. McGowan and Smith {367) state in 1922, for example, that a 

 disease of sheep referred to as " pining" was noted in the southern 

 part of Scotland as early as 1807, and a recognized cure was to shift 

 the sheep to a more succulent herbage or pasture grown on limed soils. 

 Sheep on moors or moss-covered lands were always susceptible to the 

 disease, but no symptoms were ever noticed in sheep grazing on the 

 steep and rocky lands where herbage was sweet and short. Regions 

 underlain by porphyritic rock were associated with the occurrence of 

 pining, and it appeared occasionally in the sandstone regions, but the 

 limestone regions were almost always free of it. Investigations of soils 

 in these areas by Greig and others (226) in 1933 seemed to indicate 

 that the iron content was low in affected soils, although it was reported 

 by Godden and Grimmett (212) in 1928 that additions of iron to these 

 soils did not result in any increase in the iron content of either oats or 

 mustard. The work of Corner and Smith (124) in 1938 indicates 

 that cobalt may be the limiting factor in these areas. 



A nutritional anemia referred to as bush or Tauranga disease was 

 known in New Zealand in 1900, when Gilruth (210) stated that in 

 localities where the disease occurred there were "healthy" and 

 " unhealthy" lands, and that vegetation grew as luxuriantly on one as 

 on the other. Aston (30) examined these soils in 1912 and found that 

 abnormal soils were composed largely of air-borne pumice, an acid 

 lava that had been so mixed with gases in the molten state that on 

 cooling it presented a spongy structure with the hardness of rock. 

 He reported also that the available phosphorus was generally low and 

 that manganese was high in these soils. 



Manurial experiments (475, 476) indicated that applying iron com- 

 pounds to the soil did not always alleviate the disease, although 



