ACTION OF MANGANESE IN SOILS, 
21 
Some pot experiments were made in the greenhouse, using this 
silty clay loam soil. Wheat was grown in soil in paraffined wire pots. 
Manganese sulphate was used at the rate of 25, 50, and 100 pounds 
per acre. Five pots were used for each treatment, six plants in each 
pot. The wheat grew in the greenhouse for one month, from January 
5 to February 6, when it was cut and the green weight of the plants 
taken. The manganese caused no material difference in growth. 
The green weight was the same in the soil treated with manganese 
at the rate of 25 and 50 pounds per acre as in the check. Manganese 
at the rate of 100 pounds per acre caused a decrease; only 2 per cent, 
however. There was no stimulation of growth in any case. 
EFFECT OF MANGANESE SULPHATE ON RYE. 
The result of the five-year test of manganese sulphate on plots of 1 
square rod planted to rye are given in Table XII. Like the wheat, 
the rye was planted in September and harvested the next July. The 
manganese sulphate was applied each year at the rate of 50 pounds 
per acre, shortly before the crop was planted. Five years' results 
have been secured. The arrangement of the table is similar to that 
of Table XL The increase or decrease in pounds per acre due to man- 
ganese is given in the last column. The weight of the unthrashed 
straw and grain is given. 
In 1908 there was a decrease in the manganese plot of 1,120 pounds 
per acre. The next year, 1909, there was an increase of 480 pounds 
per acre; in 1910 there was a decrease of 320 pounds; in 1911 there 
was an increase of 320 pounds, and in 1912 an increase of 480 pounds 
per acre. 
Table XII. — Showing the effect of manganese sulphate on rye grown on soil treated five 
successive years. 
Yield of crop per 
square rod. 
Calculated yield per acre. 
Year. 
Manganese 
sulphate. 
Untreated. 
Manganese 
sulphate. 
Untreated. 
Increase or 
decrease of 
manganese 
plot. 
1908 
Pounds. 
26 
29 
10 
25 
17 
Pounds. 
33 
26 
12 
23 
14 
Pounds. 
4,160 
4,640 
1,600 
4,000 
2,720 
Pounds. 
5,280 
4,160 
1,920 
3,680 
2,240 
Pounds. 
-1,120 
1909 
+ 480 
1910 
— 320 
1911 
+ 320 
1912 
+ 480 
The results are somewhat inconsistent, some years there being an 
increase from the manganese and in others a decrease. There is no 
apparent reason for this. The decrease in 1908, the first year of the 
treatment, was very large. In the following years the differences 
were more moderate. 
