UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Washington, D. C. 
1 BULLETIN No. 998 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
July 3, 1922 
EFFECT OF BORAX IN FERTILIZER ON THE 
GROWTH AND YIELD OF POTATOES. 
By B. E. Brown, Biochemist, Office of Soil-Fertility Investigations, Bureau of 
Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Purpose of the investigations 1 
Plan of the experiments — 2 
Results of the experiments 3 
Page 
Rainfall record 6 
Summary 7 
Literature cited 8 
PURPOSE OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 
Injury to field crops through the use of fertilizers containing borax 
was first observed in Indiana in 1917, and a report by Conner (I) 2 
appeared in 1918. 
So far as is known no reported authentic case of borax injury again 
occurred until 1919, when ample proof of the poisonous action of this 
compound was afforded. During the growing season of 1919 injury 
to a number of important crops by borax, notably potatoes, cotton, 
and tobacco, was observed, and a number of publications (2,3,4,5,6) 
on this subject were subsequently issued. 
The Bureau of Plant Industry, as a result of reports from various 
sections, conducted an investigational survey in the field in 1919 to 
determine the severity and extent of the injury, with special refer- 
ence to potatoes and cotton. The survey w^as based in part on ex- 
perimental plat work with fertilizers containing borax and in part on 
actual observation in affected fields. As a result of these investiga- 
tions, as well as those by others, it w T as found that borax caused the 
trouble. It was deemed essential, however, to conduct well-controlled 
field tests during the season of 1920 for the purpose of studying 
1 Experiments conducted during the season of 1920 on the Aroostook farm of the Maine 
Agricultural Experiment Station, at Presque Isle, Me. 
2 Serial numbers (italic) in parentheses refer to " Literature cited " at the end of this 
bulletin. 
105933—22 
