= BULLETIN 1126, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
soil as little as 1 pound per acre injured tobacco. The authors state 
that colloidal absorption is an important factor in enabling plants 
to tolerate larger quantities of borax when grown on clay abil 
The effect of borax on Sassafras loam (a brown or yellowish brown 
moderately heavy loam with a reddish yellow subsoil) in New Jersey, 
as presented by Blair and Brown (2), was to depress the yield of 
potatoes when as much as 30 pounds per acre was used in the drill 
and the seed planted immediately, while no appreciable decreased 
yield resulted with 50 pounds when the planting of seed was delayed. 
With 100 pounds of borax per acre the yield was cut one half. Where 
fertilizers were sown broadcast 50 pounds of borax per acre markedly 
decreased the yields. Applications of 100, 200, and 400 pounds of 
borax per acre either prevented germination or resulted in delayed 
germination. With corn, where fertilizers were applied in the drill, 
there was some depression in yield beginning with the 5-pound appli- 
cation, and with 50 pounds per acre and over the injury was severe. 
When the fertilizer was sown broadcast at the rate of 50 pounds of 
borax per acre there was a marked decrease in yield. It is noted that 
the rainfall at New Brunswick during the summer of 1920 was un- 
usually heavy, there being a precipitation of 2.01 inches in the 10 
days following. the fertilizer application. 
In the experiments on the Caribou loam? (a yellowish brown silt 
loam with yellow subsurface soil and gray subsoil) at Presque Isle, 
Me., injury occurred with an application as low as 5 pounds of borax 
per acre when put in the furrow and planting done immediately. As 
the quantity of borax applied increased, the injury became progres- 
sively worse. There was a moderate but not excessive rainfall in the 
early summer, which very likely accounts in part for the difference 
in the degree of harmfulness shown in this and the New Brunswick 
experiments 
_ The results of the investigation with cotton at Muscle Shoals,’ Ala., 
on two soil types showed that harmful effects resulted from the use 
of a quantity of borax as small as 5 pounds per acre. The use of 10 
ounds of borax per acre delayed and seriously affected germination. 
n some cases the plant outgrew its early shock where the smaller 
quantities were used. The degree of harmfulness of the borax in the 
experiments planted at different times correlates with the rainfall 
to a certain extent. When the rainfall was heavy shortly after the 
fertilizer application was made, the effect of the borax was less. 
Other experiments with cotton on both the Clarksville silt loam (a 
light-gray silt loam with heavy yellowish subsoil) and Colbert silt 
loam (a gray-brown silt loam with heavy reddish yellow subsoil) 
were made at Muscle Shoals, Ala., in cooperation with the Fixed- 
Nitrogen Research Laboratory. 
™~ 
SCOPE AND PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATIONS IN 1920. 
Extensive series of tests were made at the department experimental 
farm at Arlington, Va., on a silty clay loam soil. Corn, Lima beans, 
snap beans, potatoes, and cotton were grown. Records were kept as 
to the influence of borax on germination, on early growth, and on the 
2 Brown, B. E. Effect of borax in fertilizer on the growth and yield of potatoes. U.S. Dept. Agr. Bul. 
998,8 p., i fig.,4pl. 1922. : 
’ Skinner, J. J.,and Allison, F.E. Theinfluence of fertilizers containing borax on the growth and fruit- 
ing of cotton. Unpublished manuscript. 
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