8 4 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. VII, No. 2 
A lot of rice was grown for 13 days in a nutrient solution well supplied 
with iron and then transferred for 13 days to a solution identical except 
for the absence of iron. The leaves formed during growth in the com¬ 
plete nutrient solution were dark green, while the leaves that formed in 
the 13 days after change to the iron-free solution were yellowish green 
to creamy-white, the old leaves retaining their dark-green color during 
this change. The chlorosis or lack of green in the newer leaves was 
obviously associated with a lack of iron and due to a nontransference of 
iron from the green lower leaves. 
Similar phenomena in regard to the appearance of chlorosis were 
observed by Molisch (4, p. 92) on growing Cucurbita pepo , Helianthus 
annuus , Zea mays , etc., in iron-free solutions. 
The appearance of rice grown in nitrogen or phosphorus-free solutions 
was quite distinct from that of plants grown in iron-free solutions; the 
leaves commenced to die from the base upwards, and new leaves were 
continually formed at the top of the plant. Here there evidently was a 
translocation of nitrogen or phosphorus from the old leaves to the new, 
as growth continued after all material in the seed had been exhausted, 
and new tissue could not have been formed without these elements. 
OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTS AFFECTED WITH LIME-INDUCED 
CHLOROSIS 
Experiments at this station showed that the chlorosis of some plants 
on strongly calcareous soils was due in part at least to lack of iron; at 
all events appropriate treatment with iron salts cured the chlorosis. 
Phenomena similar to that observed in rice grown in iron-free solutions 
were observed with rice and pineapples (Ananas sativus ), grown in calca¬ 
reous soils. Rice when not immediately affected with chlorosis showed 
the chlorosis in the new leaves, even though the old leaves were green. 
The new leaves formed came out yellowish green to creamy-white and 
withered completely, the plants dying from the top down, while the lower 
leaves remained sound and green. Pineapples behaved similarly, in that 
the chlorosis appeared first in the new leaves, although frequently the 
lower leaves followed the new ones in becoming chlorotic, until eventually 
the whole plant became chlorotic. 
If iron were mobile in the plant after once being transported to the 
leaves, evidently the phenomena would have been different. Iron would 
have been translocated from the old to the new leaves, the scene of most 
active growth, and the old leaves would have withered or become chlo¬ 
rotic first. 
BRUSHING WITH IRON SALTS THE LEAVES OF PLANTS LACKING IRON 
Rice plants grown in certain nutrient solul ions with a lack of available 
iron developed chlorosis and were brushed with a 0.2 to 0.4 per cent 
solution of ferrous sulphate. In the course of this treatment the tips of 
leaves just emerging from the stalk were brushed. As these leaves grew 
