September, 1908. J 



235 



Miscellaneous Products. 



required amount of phosphoric acid. 

 Diagram 11 indicates the quantities of 

 fertilizers applied to the various plots, 

 the amount there given beiug the 

 amount for one year, and except where 

 otherwise indicated this was given in 

 four applications, the first year, as fol- 

 lows :— 



First Application ...October 18th, 1901 

 Second Application, ..March, 1902 

 Thii'd Application ...July, 1902 

 Fourth Application. ..November, 1902 



In addition to this the plants were 

 given a handful of cottonseed-meal in 

 the bud about three weeks after setting 

 out. The fifth application was made in 

 April, 1903, and the sixth after the 

 summer crop of 1903 had been removed. 

 After this time, only two applications a 

 year were made — except perhaps in the 

 case of a few special plots — one in Febru- 

 ary or March as the conditions seemed 

 to require, and the other soon after the 

 gathering of the summer crop. After the 

 crop of 1903 had been removed the plants 

 appeared to be suffering from nitrogen, 

 and they were given an application of 

 cottonseed-meal, all plots being treated 

 alike. Some other variations occurred 

 which should be mentioned. On account) 

 of circumstances which could not be con- 

 trolled, the regular summer application 

 for 1901 was not made, and in order that 

 the plants might not suffer, Hardee 

 Bros, put on about 1,300 pounds bone, 

 blood, and high-grade sulphate, analy- 

 zing 7 per cent, phosphoric acid, 6| per 

 cent, nitrogen, and 74 per cent, potash. 

 Two hundred pounds of land plaster 

 was also added. This application was 

 made on the 25th of August, 1904. 



Changes made in 1905. 

 Beginning with the March application 

 for 1905, some changes Avere made owing 

 to the fact that in the case of certain 

 plots all had been demonstrated that 

 could be demonstrated, and it was un- 

 necessary to continue them under those 

 conditions. Among these may be men- 

 tioned sections A. and B. where the 

 plots received acid phosphate without 

 lime ; section N. on which acid phosphate 

 and nitrate of soda were both used ; 

 section Q. on which nitrate of soda 

 was used as the only source of nitrogen, 

 and sections R. and S. on which bone 

 was vised as the only source of 

 nitrogen. On sections A. and B. the 

 acid phosphate was replaced by bone 

 and slag respectively, with the 

 idea of finding out if either of these 

 materials would tend to counteract the 

 injurious effects produced by the acid 

 phosphate. It may be stated here that 

 these injurious effects have been marked 

 almost from the beginning. On these 



plots there has been a decided tendency 

 to spike " or " long leaf," and the 

 plants have never had that healthy, 

 vigorous appearance which has charac- 

 terised many of the plots. On the other 

 hand, section K., which received the same 

 fertilizers and in the same amounts as 

 section A., and lime at the rate of 

 750 pounds per acre in addition, has all 

 the while been one of the most promis- 

 ing sections, and in general appearance 

 and productiveness, ranks well up to 

 the section that has been considered the 

 best. Sections N. and Q. had been so 

 badly injured and given such unsatis- 

 factory results, the first as a result of 

 using acid phosphate and nitrate of 

 soda, and the second as a result of 

 using nitrate of soda, that beginning 

 with the spring application for 1905 they 

 were entirely dropped from the experi- 

 ment. Here, too, the injurious effects 

 were noted early in the experiment, and 

 the plants have gone from bad to worse. 

 A fact that has been especially notice- 

 able in these two sections is that, as the 

 fertilizers were increased, the injurious 

 effects upon the plants seemed' to be 

 increased. There was a tendency to 

 "spike," and the plants seemed lacking 

 in vigour and healthy appearance. 



The early records of section Q., how- 

 ever, indicate that it started off well, 

 showing the usefulness of nitrate of 

 soda for getting plants started to grow- 

 ing, but the later records show a gradual 

 falling off as noted above. Nitrate of 

 soda, too, seems to produce a fruit of 

 green colour which does not ship well, 

 becoming soft and decaying rapidly, 

 and there is also a tendency for the 

 fruit to " plug" or break off too far up 

 in the base of the pine, thus causing 

 early decay. In the case of sections 

 R. and S. where bone was used as the 

 only source of nitrogen, it became 

 evident that this combination would 

 not be practicable as a pineapple ferti- 

 lizer, since nitrogen obtained in this 

 way is too expensive. The results 

 obtained from section R. where muriate 

 was used would also indicate that this 

 combination is not adapted to pineapples, 

 even though it should not prove too 

 expensive. 



These two sections might have been 

 discarded altogether, but for the fact 

 that it was desired to see what would 

 be the effect of furnishing nitrogen in 

 the form of cottonseed-meal for a time, 

 without adding any further phosphoric 

 acid. It was thought that this would 

 give an opportunity to see how long the 

 effects of the excess of phosphoric acid 

 which had been added could be observ- 

 ed. The applications of lime have not 



