Miscellaneous Products. 



232 



[September, 1908. 



On some of his experiment plots Dr. 

 Washburn used a compost made as 

 follows : — 



Dark Cotton-seed meal ... 1,000 lbs. 



Kainit ... ... 500 „ 



A.cid Phosphate ... 500 ,, 



Blood amd Bone ... 500 ,, 



Cow Manure ... ... 2,000 ,, 



On one of the plots receiving this 

 compost at the rate of six tons per acre, 

 more than half the plants were affected 

 with "long leaf," which lie attributes 

 to fermentation of the compost. How- 

 ever, in the light of more recent experi- 

 ments one would probably attribute 

 some of the bad effects, at least, to the 

 kainit and acid phosphate. 



Another plot which received this com- 

 post, at the rate of two tons per acre, 

 taken from the top of the pilif, and in 

 addition, a top dressing of hen manure, 

 is reported as a complete success- Still 

 another, which received five tons per 

 acre and was mulched with salt marsh 

 grass, proved a failure. A plot ferti- 

 lized with cotton-seed meal one and one- 

 half tons per acre, and kainit five 

 hundred pounds per acre, is also reported 

 as a failure. It is perhaps due Dr. Wash- 

 burn to state that he expressed his dis- 

 approval of the above-mentioned com- 

 post for pineapples, and adds that it was 

 not of his choosing. 



Further comparative tests were not 

 made until the winter of 1897-8, when a 

 rather extensive experiment was begun 

 by Professor P. H. Rolf's, then Biologist 

 and Horticulturist to this Station, on the 

 lands of Ballentine and Moore, at Jensen 

 on the Indian River. The results of this 

 experiment were published in bulletin 

 No. 50* of the Station. The bulletin gives 

 the general plan, details and results of 

 the work, and conclusions which were 

 drawn from the results. Different forms 

 of phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash 

 were used alone and in combination. A 

 study was made of the effect of fertili- 

 zers upon leaf area and upon freeze-resis- 

 tance of the plants. A table of fruit 

 picked from some of the plots in June 

 1889 is given. On the basis of the experi- 

 ment the author suggests a plan for fer- 

 tilizing pineapples in Florida and draws 

 a number of conclusions, among which 

 may be mentioned the following: — 



" The fertilizers used to furnish am- 

 monia stand in the following order, begin- 

 ning with the best ; (1) blood and bone, 

 (2) nitrate of soda, (3) cotton-seed meal, 

 (4) sulphate of ammonia." 



* Pineapple Fertilizers, P. H. Rolfs, Florida Sta- 

 tion, Bulletin No. 50. 



" Potash salts stand in the following 

 order : (1) potassium magnesium carbo- 

 nate, (2) low grade sulphate of potash, 

 (3) high grade sulphate of potash, (4) 

 muriate of potash, (5) kainit." 



" Bone meal is very much better than 

 acid phosphate." 



"A Fertilizer analayzing 4 per cent, 

 ammonia, 6 per cent, potash and 1 per 

 cent, phosphoric acid is jnearer correct 

 than the normal one taken as an arbitrary 

 basis on which to begin work." 



'• There is a certain amount of ammo- 

 nia, of potash and of phosphoric acid, 

 which, if applied to the soil, proves of 

 greatest benetit to the plants ; any vari- 

 ation, either a decrease or an increase of 

 any one or more of these fertilizers, will 

 be disadvantageous." 



"The amount of ammonia, of potash 

 and of phosphoric acid which may be 

 applied to the soil to produce the best 

 results varies with the different sources 

 from which it is obtained." 



" There is a certain amount of ammonia 

 of potash and of phosphoric acid which 

 produces the greatest f reeze-resistance 

 in pineapple plants ; any increase or de- 

 crease of anyone or more of the ingre- 

 dients produces a less freeze-resistant 

 plant." 



"Freeze-resistance varies with sources 

 from which the ammonia and potash are 

 obtained." 



The experiment was discontinued after 

 about 18 months- 



Fertilizer experiments conducted in 

 Queensland* in 1899 indicated that pine- 

 apples were much benefitted by the 

 application of a mixture of soluble nitro- 

 genous and phosphatic materials, but 

 contrary to the results obtained by the 

 Fla. Station, up to that time, potash 

 seemed to have little, if any, effect. 



In Jamaica! experiments were carried 

 on in six different localities, using from 

 one to thirteen different fertilizer for- 

 mulas in each case. In only one case 

 was the addition of fertilizers to the soil 

 found beneficial. In this case larger 

 fruits of finer quality were obtained. 

 An analysis of this soil indicated a low 

 standard of fertility. The soil in the 

 other cases appeared to be sufficiently 

 fertile. In one of the experiments in 

 which a test was made of the effect of 

 fertilizers ou "monstrous plants" the 



* Queensland Agricultural Journal, 4 (1899), 

 No. 6 pp. 472-473. 



t Annual Report Department Public Gardens and 

 Plantations aill Board of Agriculture (Jamaica), 

 1903, pp. lb-19. 



