8 BULLETIN 1180, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
quickly as with sodium nitrate. The difference usually amounted to 
two or three weeks and played an exceedingly important part in the 
final yields for two main reasons: (1) The damage by boll weevils, 
which are always present in the largest numbers late in the season, 
was greatly increased; (2) cotton requires warm weather and a long 
growing season, and the delay in the growth in many instances 
resulted in the plants being killed by frosts before the growth was 
completed. This was especially important in these experimental 
results, due to the fact that Muscle Shoals is located within about 75 
miles of the northern limit of the Cotton Belt. 
The effect of cyanamid on the growth of wheat, rye, oats, and 
grass was not appreciably different from the responses with sodium 
nitrate and ammonium sulphate. Where all of the cyanamid was 
applied in the fall, there was sufficient time for the nitrogen to become 
available before being used by the plants the following spring. Con- 
sequently the resulting growth was good. Where a portion of the 
cyanamid was applied in the spring to wheat and rye, a retardation 
resulted, and these plants were slow to recover. On the whole 
cyanamid was a much more satisfactory fertilizer for the winter crops 
than for cotton. 
The use of calcium nitrate with cyanamid was tried out on a small 
scale in an effort to stimulate the early growth. The results were 
not entirely satisfactory, due perhaps to the fact that the mixture 
used was somewhat incompatible. The combination included cyana- 
mid, calcium nitrate, and basic slag. The nitrate absorbed sufficient 
moisture from the air to result in the formation of unusually hard 
cakes. Probably at the same time some of the cyanamid was con- 
verted into dicyanodiamid, a poison for many plants. Under such 
conditions the cyanamid-oalcium-nitrate mixture was no better 
than cyanamid alone, but it is felt that these unsatisfactory tests are 
no indication that the use of nitrate nitrogen with cyanamid will not 
prove profitable provided the materials are applied separately or in a 
compatible mixture. 
AMMONIUM NITRATE, DOUBLE SALT, AND ME5ED SALTS. 
The effects on growth produced by ammonium nitrate and the 
combinations which may be made from it for the purpose of over- 
coming part of its objectionable hygroscopic properties were exactly 
alike so far as the eye could detect. The observations are therefore 
discussed under the same heading. 
The germination and early growth of cotton and corn in the presence 
of these materials corresponded in every respect with that noted 
with sodium nitrate. Where moisture was deficient there was a 
delay of two or three days in germination with the two larger rates 
of application, and sometimes a slight burning effect, especially in 
the case of corn. These slight temporary injuries occurred only 
under extreme conditions and were no greater than with sodium 
nitrate. Ammonium nitrate and its combinations all gave quick 
responses and behaved in identically the same manner as sodium 
nitrate. The growth with cotton and corn is shown by Plate II, 
Figures 1 and 2. 
Late growth and maturity also corresponded to that on the plats 
receiving equivalent amounts of nitrogen in the forms of sodium 
nitrate and ammonium sulphate. The smaller applications hastened 
