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AGRIC.
' LIBRARY
DEPARTMENT Of AGRICULTURE,
NEW SOUTH WALES.
SCIENCE BULLETIN, & September, IS/3.
No. 9.
THE RELATION OF FERTILISERS
TO SOIL FERTILITY.
By
F. B. GUTHRIE.
Workers in the respective branches of Economic Science covered
by this series of Science Bulletins will receive such of them as may
be of use in their special branches of study upon application to the
Under Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Sydney.
157441 SYDNEY; WILLIAM APPLCGATE GULLICK, GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
No. of Copies Issued, 1,000
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
NEW SOUTH WALES.
SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
The Relation of Fertilisers to
Soil Fertility.
BY
F. B. GUTHRIE.
SYDNEY: WILLIAM APPLEGATE GULLICK, GOVERNMENT PRINTED
t 57441 A
DEFART/V\ENT OF AGRICULTURE.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
SCIENCE BULLETIN No. 9.
The Relation of Fertilisers to Soil Fertility/
A SHORT SURVEY OF PRESENT VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT.
F. B. GUTHRIE, Chemist.
IN looking through previous volumes of the Association I find that the
addresses of my predecessors in the office to which you have done me the
honour to elect me, have dealt, without exception, with the broader aspects of
the connection of the State, or of this Association, with agricultural progress
or agricultural education.
It seemed, therefore, more fitting that I should take as the subject-matter
of my address the development of some specific branch of agricultural science,,
especially as nearly everything I could say on the subject of agricultural
policy has been well said by my predecessors. An occasion like the present
appears a suitable one in which to pass in review the most recent advances made
in our science, as the presence of so many workers from the different States
renders it possible to discuss new developments from various points of view.
A great deal of what I shall have to say — probably all of it — will not be
new to those of you who are engaged in scientific work in agriculture, and
have followed recent developments at all closely ; but there are, no doubt,,
many who have not the time nor opportunity to keep themselves posted in
the literature of the subject, to whom I trust a presentment of the matter
may prove of some interest.
To all alike a review of what has been done in any given line of work
should stimulate discussion and be an incentive to further investigation.
I purpose to review shortly the main lines along which recent work has.
been conducted regarding the relation of fertilisers to soil fertility.
The trend of recent research in agricultural science has brought forcibly
home to us the fact that the function of fertilisers is not restricted to the
duty of supplying plant-food to the growing crop. Under certain circum-
stances, indeed, this function is in abeyance — in the absence of sufficient
water, for example, or in the presence of unfavourable soil-conditions, the
action of fertilisers is almost negligible — and it is our lack of understanding
of these conditions that has been the frequent cause of want of success in the
use of manures.
The idea that failure in plant-production is due solely, or even chiefly, to-
deficient plant-food in the soil is no longer tenable.
* Presidential address delivered before the Agricultural Section of the Australasian
Association for the Advancement of Science, Melbourne, January, 1913.
SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Recent investigations have brought to light a host of other causes of infer-
tility, bu t the idea still persists at the back of many soil analyses, that the deter-
mination of the amount of certain specified plant-foods, dissolved by specific
solvents from the soil, is a certain guide to the nature of the manuring required.
As a matter of fact, neither tli3 chemical composition of the soil nor of the crop
affords any certain foundation on which advice as to manuring can be based.
A. D. Hall and E. J. Russell,* dealing with the results of a soil survey of
the south-eastern counties of England, draw, amongst other general
conclusions, the following which have special reference to the connection
between the composition of the soil and plant: "We are not as yet in a
position to deduce the agricultural properties of a soil, either its behaviour
under cultivation or its adaptability to particular crops, except in the
roughest general fashion/''
In dealing with a number of typical wheat-soils the authors say, "chemical
analysis of these soils revealed rio connection between their chemical compo-
sition and their suitability for wheats," and the same remark applies no
doubt to other crops. They also point out that excess or deficiency of any
particular plant-food, such as nitrogen, does not necessarily imply a fertile or
infertile soil.
Even in the case of calcium carbonate, they show that many soils poorly
supplied with this ingredient are not benefited by the application of lime,
whereas for other soils examined, containing the same or a greater proportion,
liming is essential.
They find that, " other things being equal, dry soils are more likely to
respond to potassic manuring than others better supplied with water, but no
richer in available potash."
The same applies to phosphoric acid. " Little, if any, direct connection
can be traced between the phosphoric acid and the productiveness."
As far as regards the value of soil-analysis, as a ba&is on which to afford
advice as to soil treatment, I have no reason to alter the opinion expressed in
a paper on " Soil Analysis," read before this Association at the Brisbane
meeting, 1895, wherein the view is expressed that a rational scheme of soil-
analysis wrhich shall attempt rather to determine the factors influencing
fertility than to elaborate methods for determining the chemical constitution
of the soil, can be made of considerable value to the farmer. This statement
has been amply borne out by experience, and to day the analysis of farmers
soils on the lines then laid down is one of the functions of the Department
most regularly availed of by farmers.
In spite of all the labour expended for many years on this subject,
manuring still remains very largely empirical in its nature. We know, in a
broad and general way, that a soil deficient in plant-food is not likely to
produce good crops without manuring, and that a soil rich in plant-food is
likely to prove a fertile one. But much further than this we cannot go. If
a soil is well supplied with, sa}^ nitrogen and potash, but poor in phosphates,
it by no means follows with any certainty that it will be benefited by
phosphatic manuring.
* Jmirn. Agric. Science, vol. 4, p. 182.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 5
We know further that certain fertilisers benefit certain crops. We know,
for example, that the application of superphosphate will probably increase
the yield of wheat and other cereals ; but this knowledge is not derived from
information supplied by the composition either of the soil or the wheat
plant.
The wheat crop, grain and straw, contains only half the quantity of
phosphoric acid that it does of nitrogen, and much less than it does of
potash, and yet we know that neither nitrogenous nor potash manures are
anything like as effective as soluble phosphates in increasing the yield. Nor
does soil-analysis help us to any extent. The soil may be comparatively rich
In phosphates and poor in nitrogen and potash, and still phosphatic
manuring is the more effective. Our wheat soils in the semi-dry country are
indeed lacking for the most part in humus and nitrogen, and yet it is by the
-application of superphosphates and not of nitrogenous manures that crops
are successfully grown.
The case of leguminous plants is of a similar nature ; crops like peas and
beans and clover contain more nitrogen than other fertilising ingredients,
and yet manuring with nitrogen is resultless, and the ingredients which are
-most beneficial are potash and phosphates. Here again, it is immaterial
whether the soil is rich or poor in nitrogen or rich in potash. The com-
position of fruit-trees doers not explain why potash manuring should be of
such special benefit, nor is there any satisfactory explanation why the
mangel crop —which contains nearly four times as much potash as ihe potato
<jrop — should not benefit by the application of this ingredient, whereas it is
an essential, a " dominant " ingredient for manures applied to potatoes.
I do not wish to press this point further, but simply to accentuate my
statement that the composition either of the crop or of the soil is not an
infallible guide to the nature of the manuring required. In fact, we have
not advanced much on the principles enunciated by Ville. We still manure
with a complete manure, paying special attention to the ingredient which, is
*' dominant " for the particular crop.
Explanations of these peculiarities will no doubt be forthcoming. In the
case of leguminous crops, we are acquainted with the process by which they
obtain the required nitrogen from the air and are independent of soil
nitrates or nitrogenous manuring.
In the case of wheat, I have suggested an explanation, which I venture to
think is the correct one, of the rather extraordinary phenomenon that the
application of nitrate or other nitrogenous manure which is essential to
the production of wheat in Europe and America is without effect on crops
grown locally, its place being taken by superphosphate.*
Shortly stated, this explanation lies in the different conditions as to nitri-
fication prevailing here and in Europe and America during the growth of the
•crop. In the latter countries the wheat commences to grow in soil from which
the nitrates have been washed out, and in which nitrification does not take
* Agricultural Gazette, New South Wales, vol. xvii., p. 29.
6 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
place until the crop is approaching maturity. "With us nitrification is active
and progressive during the early growth of the wheat plant, and nitrogenous
manuring is unnecessary, all that is required being the application of a
fertiliser which promotes the development of the root-system, a quality which
appears to be possessed in a high degree by superphosphate, thus ensuring the
young plants a vigorous start.
It has been further shown by J. W. Paterson and P. R. Scott* that
superphosphate appreciably increases the nitrification of ammonia, indicat-
ing that, in some cases, the addition of phosphates may help to nourish the
nitrifying organisms as well as the crop.
We will now review shortly some of the recent work which has shown that
the growth of plants is affected by causes other than lack of plant-food, or
unfavourable mechanical soil conditions, and which encourages us to look to
other remedies for unfertile conditions.
We shall see, incidentally, that fertilisers may have an action upon the
growth of the plant which is altogether independent of its power of supplying
plant-food, and which until recent years has been quite overlooked.
Toxic Substances in Soils.
That substances are formed in the soil, either as the result of the decom-
position (chemically, or by means of micro-organisms) of crop-residues, or
excreted by the growing plant, seems to be abundantly proved. f
O. Schreiner was the first to show the toxic effect of dihydroxystearic acid
and to isolate this substance from soils on which wheat failed to grow. J
Further experiments by the United States Bureau of Soils§ have shown
that quite a large number of organic substances exercise a toxic action on
plant growth.
F. Fletcheijl describes experiments showing the extraordinary influence
of the neighbourhood of sorghum and of maize upon the growth of "sesamuni
indicum." This is not due to the removal of moisture or of plant-food
by the maize crop, as both these essentials were abundantly supplied to the
sesamum, but must, he concludes, be attributed to the excretion of a toxin
by the roots of the maize plants. Fletcher believes this to be a salt of
dihydroxystearic acid.
Among the numerous toxic organic compounds which Schreiner and his
fellow-workers have found to be present in the soil, three or four have been
more particularly studied in relation to their action upon plants provided with
varying quantities of the recognised fertilising ingredients.
Schreiner and Skinner^ have shown that in water cultures with wheat,
dihydroxj'-stearic acid is least harmful when the plant is provided with fer-
tilising substances relatively rich in nitrogen (such as nitrates), and that in
* Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, vol. 10, p. 393.
t Schreiner and Shorey, Bull. 74, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
jBull. 53, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
§ Schreiner and Reed, Bull. 47, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
ii Journ. Agric. Science, IV, p. 245.
IT Bull. 70, U.S.A. Bureau of Soils.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 7
the presence of this soil toxin the plant removed less phosphoric acid and
potash than under normal conditions, but that its absorption of nitrogen
was more nearly normal.
The action of other soil toxins was made the subject of further study*
and the following very interesting and rather remarkable results were
obtained : — Vanillin (an aldehyde) behaves in very much the same way as
dihydroxystearic acid in its general effect upon roots and leaves, and its
effects are least when the plant is supplied with nitrates. It is pointed out
that nitrates increase root-oxidation, whereas both dihydroxystearic acid
and vanillin, being capable of further oxidation, are themselves reducing
agents.
Quinone is another organic substance whose presence affects the growth of
plants. Unlike the two substances mentioned above, quinone is an oxidising
agent, and its ill-effects are less marked when the plant is supplied with
relatively large proportions of sulphate of potash, which has a known influence
in restraining root-oxidation.
A fourth substance is coumarin, a substance of fairly wide distribution in
the vegetable kingdom, and found to be toxic to many plants. Schreiner
and Skinnerj" find that it is particularly toxic to wheat, the leaves being
short and broad, and the roots discoloured, and their surface very
shiny. The harmful effect of this substance was greatest when phosphoric
acid was absent from the nutrient solution, and practically disappeared when
the fertiliser was rich in phosphates. The same results were obtained with
wheat-plants grown in soil in culture-pots.
It would, therefore, appear that the bad effects due to the presence of
dihydroxystearic acid and of vanillin can be to a large extent neutralised
by the application of sodium nitrate, those due to coumarin by phosphoric
acid, and those due to quinone by sulphate of potash. With the exception
of coumarin, these experiments were carried out apparently only in water-
culture experiments, and the point must not be lost sight of that these results
when tried in the field may be considerably modified by the chemical or
physical nature of the soil. They are sufficiently striking to emphasise the
fact that the function of fertilisers is not solely to supply plane-food.
Fungi Affecting Crops.
Another way in which one crop may affect injuriously a succeeding crop is
by the production of a fungus which infects the soil and attacks the young
plants. A fungus of this nature has been found by H. L. BolleyJ to be
the cause of what are known as flax-sick soil?, that is soils which after con-
tinuous cropping with flax (which does not unduly exhaust the soil) are
unable to produce flax. He quotes an experiment in which flax was grown
for six consecutive years on a fertile soil of the Red River, the result being
that the land was "in such a diseased condition that not a plant of flax
can exist on it longer than three weeks from the time of sowing." This
* Schreiner and Skinner, Bull. 77, U.S.A. Bureau of Soils.
t Lo<-. cit.
t Bull. 50, North Dakota Agric. College, 1901.
8 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
condition of things is well known in Europe and America to flax-growers, and
it is the custom in Europe at all events to sow flax at intervals of not less-
than eight years on the same land, the flax being part of a rotation including
turnips, oats, clover, wheat, and beans.
Bolley has found that this flax-sickness is due to the growth of a fungus
which he calls Fusarium lini, which lives in the humus of the soil and
attacks the flax-plant.
Manuring of any description was quite ineffective in improving the growth
of flax or in destroying the fungus, nor did treatment of the soil with any of
the usual fungicides produce any better results. There appears to be no way
to rid the soil of the parasite, as the fungus lives in the soil for many years
without any flax crop to feed upon. This fungus does not appear to attack
any other crop.
The remedies suggested are treatment of the seed with substances such as
formalin, and a five years' rotation of flax with wheat, hay, pasture, arid
maize.
Bolley has also shown* that the deterioration of wheat-lands is brought
about by three or four parasitic fungi (in a later communication he gives the
number as at least five), whose growth is encouraged by the practice of
continuous cropping of the land with wheat, and which are propagated and
attack the wheat plant in exactly the same way as flax is attacked by
Fusarium lini.
Similar instances of loss of crop-producing power have been long familiar,,
that of clover sickness being one of the earliest to be recognised. Peas,
beans, turnips, and cauliflowers are all subject to parasitic fungi which grow
on the buried portions of diseased plants and communicate the disease to-
healthy plants. The same is also true of many of the fungus diseases which
affect the potato, tomato, <fcc.
Infertility often due to Bad Husbandry.
In all these cases we have toxic conditions which are quite distinct from
the infertile condition brought about by soil-exhaustion, conditions which
are not dependent upon the richness or poverty of the soil, and which no
amount of manuring in the ordinary sense will remedy. Indeed, when we
consider the large stores of plant food in average and even in poor soils, the
comparatively small proportion removed by even the most exhausting crop,,
and the fact that this store of plant-food is being constantly rendered
available, it becomes difficult to realise that a few years' cropping can effect
such a complete removal of plant-food, as we must assume to take place if
the soil is exhausted in the manner usually recognised.
As a matter of fact, analyses of European soils go to show that under
continuous cultivation there is little or no difference in the mineral content
of the soil. In short, the inferior crop-producing power of a soil after
repeated cropping is due to other and more obscure causes than the simple
depletion of the soil in plant-food.
• Press Bulletin No. 33, North Dakota Agric. Expt. Station, Oct. 1909.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 9
It is open to doubt whether such a thing exists as an infertile
soil, that is, one which will not give satisfactory results under proper treat-
ment. Plants, we know, can be grown in ignited sand or distilled water,
if the proper nourishment is supplied. The barren regions of the earth are
-all capable of being made reproductive under proper treatment, witness the
alkali-lands of Texas, and the salt-lands of Utah. Even the desert yields
abundantly in the fortunate places where springs occur, or where the land
can be inundated by rivers. On the other hand misapplied energy may
convert a fruitful country into an unproductive one, and much of the desert
and sterile land has once been fertile, and has been brought to its present
•condition by unthrifty husbandry.
Travellers in Palestine tell us that its numberless hills are covered with
the ruins of what h?,ve once been populous cities, a certain sign that the
surrounding country has once been, not only fertile, but extensively
cultivated to provide food for the town populations.
Sir Frederick Treves, the most recent visitor to record his impressions of
this country in his work "The Land which is Desolate," contrasts the
promised land " that floweth with milk and honey " with the " poverty
.stricken, miserly, thread-bare country " of to-day.
The plain on which the ruins of Babylon now stand is still covered with
-a network of old canals, which served both to irrigate and to drain what was
in ancient days extremely fertile country, but which is now divided between
desert and marshes. Herodotus testifies to the remarkable fertility of
Babylon in his time, when it was a great commercial centre.
Professor Heereii in his work on the " Commerce, &c., of the Principal
Nations of Antiquity," tells us how the discovery of a new path to India
•across the ocean, converted the great commerce of the world from a land-
trade to a sea-trade, and thus Nineveh " sunk to its original state of a
stinking morass and a barren steppe."
This is that same Nineveh, the capital of a country which its king
•described as " a land of corn and wine ; a land of bread and vineyards ; a
land of oil-olive, and of honey."
There are many other instances where great and populous centres have
flourished at the expense of the surrounding country, which they have
finally impoverished and involved in their own ruin, and this is a danger,
probably the greatest danger, with which rural Australia is faced to-day.
Plant Secretions not always Toxic.
The secretions of plants are not, however, necessarily always toxic to other
plants. The beneficial results of growing leguminous plants with non-
legumes is well, known, and an experiment carried out by J. G. Lipman
shows this particularly well.*
Lipman grew oats in quartz-sand in porous pots which were placed in
larger pots also filled with quartz-sand in which field-peas Avere grown. The
* Journ. Afjric. Science, vol. 3, p. 207.
10 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
sand in both cases was supplied with the necessary mineral fertilising con-
stituents, but with no nitrogen. Both plants grew vigorously, the oats
obtaining their supply of nitrogen by the diffusion of soluble nitrogenous
material from the outer pot in which the legumes were growing.
If, instead of a porous inner pot, the oats were grown in glazed pots and
were thus unaffected by the nitrates formed by the legumes, they produced
a much diminished yield, and showed the growth and colour associated with
lack of nitrogen.
Another case in which a beneficial action is exerted on the growth of
plants by organic soil-constituents, and one in which such action cannot be
attributed to any direct fertilising power, is furnished by creatinine and
creatine. Creatinine is an organic substance which exists not only in the
humus of soil, but in farmyard and organic manures, and in many plants and
seeds, and whose presence in the soil has be3n found to indicate fertility.
The United States Soil-Bureau * have isolated and experimented with this
substance, and with creatine, of which latter it is the anhydride. These
authors have found it in stable manure and peas used as green manures ; also
in wheat, S33dling wheat grain, bran, rye, some leguminous plants, and
potato? s.
Both creatine and creatinine are nitrogenous substance*, and experiments
in manuring show that they can replace nitra'e in its tiTects en plant-growth,
at all events in culture solutions.
Micro-organisms — Toxic and beneficial.
In yet another direction a great deal of interesting work lias been done,
showing the part played by minute organisms in relation to soil fertility. It
had been known for some time that treatment of the soil both by heat and
by antiseptics favoured the growth of crops.
S. U. Pickering f found that when soils were either heated or treated
with antiseptics the total soluble organic matter of the soil was increased,
and at the same time toxic conditions were produced which hindered
germination, such inhibitory action being, however, only temporary, as the
toxins were subsequently destroyed, presumably by oxidation.
.E. J. Russell and II. B. Hutchinson, J in an elaborate and careful series
of experiments, appear to have shown conclusively that the beneficial effect
of partial sterilisation by heat or antiseptics upon the growth of the
crop, is attributable to the larger proportion of ammonia present in the soil
after such treatment. These authors explain this phenomenon as follows : —
Probably in all soils certain larger unicellular organisms (protozoa) are
present, which feed on the bacteria concerned in the formation of soluble
nitrogen compounds and keep them in check. If the soil is partially sterilised
by heating for a short time to the temperature of boiling water, or by
subjecting it to the action of vapours such as chloroform, bisulphide of
* Schreiner, Shrrey, Sullivan, and Skinner, Bull. 83, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
+ Journ. Agric. Science, vol . 3, pp. 32 and 258 .
$Journ. Agric. Science, vol. 3, p. 111.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 11
•carbon, toluene, &c. (such vapour being subsequently removed by spreading
the soil out in a thin layer and allowing the vapour to evaporate), the effect
is to destroy the protozoa and probably most of the bacteria as well, but
not the spores of the ammonia-producing bacteria. These spores subsequently
develop, and in the absence of the hostile protozoa, their development
proceeds with increased activity, the result being a considerable increase
in the soluble nitrogenous plant-food and a more vigorous crop growth.
These experiments have so far been carried out in the laboratory. If
means are discovered of partially sterilising the soil in the field, a most
valuable method of increasing the fertility of the soil will be placed at the
disposal of the farmer.
Indeed, experiments in this direction have been recently carried out by
E. J. Russell and J. Golding* on " sewage-sick " soils. They find that
"sewage-sickness" is an abnormal development of the factor harmful
to bacteria (protozoa) always present in ordinary soils, and that the
loss of efficiency in the purification of sewage in such soils is due to
the hindrance of the development of the bacteria. Small land-filters were
made in the field, some being filled with untreated soil and others
with treated or sterilised soil. The effluents were examined periodically.
The untreated samples soon became " sewage-sick," whereas the effluents
from the treated filters retained their efficiency for months!. A further
experiment was tried by treating small plots in a similar manner, the plots
being then sown with turnips. The crops on the treated plots (especially
that treated with toluene) were not only better than those from the untreated,
but suffered much less from " finger and toe."
Further interesting trials were recorded by E. J. Russell and F. R.
Petherbridgef of the action of heat and antiseptics upon sickness in
glass house soils. In countries where plants like cucumbers and tomatoes
are grown under glass, the soil is found to bs unsuitable for the growth of
these plants after a short time, sometimes after the first crop. The soil
used is therefore thrown away, and as it is necessary to enrich it very much
with manure and to expend much time and labour on i's preparation, this is
a very wasteful operation. The authors find that previous steaming of the
sick-soil of a commercial glass-house in which cucumbers were grosvn,
resulted in curing the soil of cucumber-sickness and rendering it once more
commercially profitable. The s *me was found to be the case with tomato-
sick soil on which a number of different antiseptics were tried. Of all
methods, .heating the soil to 98° was found to be the most effective.
The cost of this operation is from Is. to If. 6d. per ton of soil, which while
profitable in the case of plants grown under ghss, is quite prohibitive on
large areas.
S. U. PickeringJ considers that on heating a soil the amount of soluble
plant-food is increased, and the changed bacterial conditions studied by
* Journ. Aqric. Science, vol. 5, p. 27.
t Ibid., p. 86.
£ Journ. Ayric. Science, vol. 3, p. 277.
12 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Russell and Hutchinson conduce to more vigorous growth, but that at the
same time certain toxic substances are formed which arrest plant growth,
but as these toxins are unstable and readily oxidised the toxic conditions da
not prevail for any length of time.
F. Fletcher* obtained very much higher yields with maize plants grown in
soil previously heated, which results he attributes to the destruction by heat
of an alkaloid dihydroxystearate. He also finds germination injuriously
affected by previous heating. This he attributes to increased osmotic activity
which results in a decrease of imbibition, brought about by increase cf soluble-
organic substances.
R. Greig-Smith,")" to some extent opposes the conclusions of Russell and
Hutchinson. The beneficial action of disinfectants, such as chloroform,,
toluene, &c., is explained by him as being due to the removal, by these
reagents (all of which are wax-solvents), of a wax-like substance (agricere)
with which the soil particles are coated. With the removal of this water-
proofing the soil nutrients are more easily dissolved in the soil-water and
attacked by bacteria.
According to this investigator, the principal nitrogen-fixing bacterium in
soils is Rhizobium leguminosarum, the number of which affords an indication
of the comparative fertility of the soil, and which, in the most fertile soils,,
may be present to the number of three or four millions per gramme of soil.
He finds, further, that all soils contain a substance which acts as a bacterio-
toxin, fertile soils containing a small, poor ones a large amount. This toxin
is destroyed by heat, sunlight, and storage, and is washed into the subsoil
by rain, so that after a shower of rain the surface soil is richer in bacteria
than the lower strata. This latter is an extremely interesting observation,
as indicating that the beneficial effects of rain or of irrigation are not confined
to the mere supply of water or even of fertilising salts to the soil.
These bacterio-toxins are insoluble in wax-solvents, and are not volatile.
He finds also that after the protozoa have been destroyed by heat at 65°
to 70°, the action of volatile disinfectants is to increase still further the
bacterial productiveness of the soil.
Additional indication that these disinfectants act as wax-solvents in dis-
solving the agricere, is afforded by the fact that the upper layers of soils so
treated are less nutritive to bacteria than the lower, which is what might be
expected if the disinfectant on evaporation carried the agricere to the
surface.
Dr. Greig-Smith is reading a paper before this section, in which he
recapitulates his work in this connection.
If the theory that the action of heat and of solvents is to destroy the
waterproof coating is correct, one would expect that the soils so treated
would yield more of their mineral ingredients to soil-solvents. The evidence
* Cairo Sclent. Journ., 1910, 4, reprint (Abstract in Chem. Soc. Journ. Abstracts
vol. 100, ii, 350).
•\Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., vol. 35, p. 808 ; vol. 36, pp. 492, G09, 679.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 13
on this point is not conclusive, but it is fairly certain that the increases^
when such have been found, are insufficient to account for the great increase
in fertility noted by Ptussell and Hutchinson (three or four times the crop
in the case of heat, and 20 to 50 per cent, in the case of volatile antiseptics).
S. U. Pickering* shows a slight increase in the total water-soluble material,
both of heated and of treated soils, but the nature of the mineral matter
extracted is not stated.
G. S. Frapsf has found that previous ignition increases the amount of
phosphoric acid, which can be dissolved from several naturally occurring
phosphates. Wavellite, in particular, yields ten times as much phosphoric
acid, soluble in -|-nitric acid, after as before ignition.
It is to be remembered, however, that in this case there is no question of
the presence of agricere, and further, that, in our soils, at all events, these
minerals are not likely to be present in any quantity.
C. B. LipmanJ finds in the case of soils the opposite effect to that noted
by Fraps in the case of phosphatic minerals. He finds that the effect of
igniting soil is to reduce the amount of phosphoric acid extracted by nitric
acid. This agrees with the observations of J. Konig and others§ that
phosphoric acid is fixed by colloids in the soil forming insoluble calcium
phosphate, so that the combination is rendered more complete by the action
of heat.
H. I. Jensen|| has also investigated this point. He treated several soils
of varying known degrees of fertility with different soil-solvents before and
after ignition — -e.g., strong hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 141), citric acid (1 per
cent.) and nitric acid (?).
The results are very irregular and vary in different directions, being
frequently identical, but they point to the conclusion that in the case of
heated soil at all events the increased fertility is not due to the greater
solubility of the recognised plant-foods. Any considerable differences occur
only in cases where the quantities of plant-food are extremely small and are
probably due to experimental errors.
C. B. Lipman^[ has carried out experiments in which previously sterilised
soil was infected with filtered suspensions, so as to remove the protozoa. He
finds no difference in the results when such filtered liquids are used and
when unfiltered suspensions containing protozoa are employed, and is "unable
to confirm the claims of Russell and Hutchinson as to the influence of
protozoa in modifying the amount of work done by decay bacteria."
Another view of the action of heat upon soils has been more recently advanced
by O. Schreiner and E. C. Lathrop** and E. C. Lathropff. These authors find
that heating the soil results in an increase in the water soluble constituents
* Jonrn. Agric. Sci., vol. 3, p. 32.
t Journ. lid. Eny. Chemistry, vol. 3, p. 335.
£ Journ. Ind. Eny. Ghent., vol. 4, p. 603.
§ Lar.d. Vcrsuch. ftat., 1911, vol. 75, pp. 377-441.
|| Prcc. Hoy. A'oc., N.S.W., vol. 45, p. ]f>9.
IF Xew Jersey A^ric. Expt. Station, Bull. 248.
*° Journ. Am. Chcm. Soc., vol. 34, p. 1242.
tt Jbid., p. 1-260.
14 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
and in acidity, although ammonia and amines are formed. Heating the
soil produces simultaneously both beneficial and harmful organic compounds.
Amongst the beneficial are xanthine and hypoxanthine, guanine, cytosine
and arginine, and among the harmful hydroxystearic acid. These substances,
if already present in the soil, are increased by heat, and if not originally
present are produced by the action of heat. The heated soil possesses at
first a decreased fertility, owing to the production or increase of dihydroxy-
stearic acid, but when this ingredient disappears, either through oxidation,
cropping, addition of lime or nitrate, the fertility of the soil is increased.
This explanation, it will be seen, opposes the conclusions of Russell and
Hutchinson as far as the effect of heating is concerned, and attributes this
effect to the alteration of the proteid matter of the humus, rather than to the
action of micro-organisms.
There are thus several theories in the field to account for the action of heat
and of antiseptics upon the soil. On the one hand, it is attributed in both
cases to a partial sterilisation of the soil, as a result of which certain
organisms are destroyed which are hostile to the ammonia-producing bacteria ;
on the other hand, the action of antiseptics may, it is suggested, be due to
the removal of an impervious wax -like material surrounding the soil grains,
the presence of which hinders their being attacked by soil-solvents ; and in
the case of heating a third suggestion is that at first both harmful and
beneficial organic substances are produced, the harmful ones being readily
oxidised.
Effects of Fertilisers on Physical Properties of Soil.
Soluble salts in small quantities exert an influence upon the physical pro-
perties of soils. Aikman* points out that the quantities of fertilising
matter in farmyard manure are insufficient and in an unsuitable form for
the growth of crops, and that the chief influence of such manure is on the
structure of the soil. R. O. E. Davisf has studied this influence more
particularly in the case of the apparent specific volume of the soil, rate
of capillary action, and change in vapour pressure.
He finds that most fertilisers accelerate capillary movement, sulphate of
potash and a mixture of sulphate of potash and phosphoric acid retard it.
Soluble salts, whether acting as plant-food or not, may produce in the soil
changes in structure which in turn influence plant growth. Their effect is
most pronounced in soils containing a large amount of fine particles.
Influence of Fertilisers on Soil-moisture.
The action of soluble salts in affecting the moisture conditions of the soil
is of great importance. Cameron and Gallagher:}: have shown that the
physical nature of the soil changes with its moisture-content, and consider
that for every soil there is an optimum moisture-content at which its
physical condition is most favourable for plant growth.
* " Manures and Manuring," p. 273.
t Bull. 82, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
J Bull. 50, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 15
Of the various problems presented by a study of the physical nature of
the soil, the one which is of the greatest importance is the question of the
behaviour of water in the soil. This applies with special force to us in
Australia, where the problem of conserving the soil-moisture is of even greater
importance than that of manuring. The action of fertilisers, especially
potash salts, in keeping the surface soil moist, is well known. The applica-
tion of fertilisers has been found to have a very considerable effect upon the
transpiration ratio of plants, enabling them to make a better use of the
available moisture.
In fact J. W. Leather* in the course of an investigationinto the water require-
ments of crops in India, finds that the transpiration ratio (that is the relation
between the weight of water transpired by the crop and the weight of the
dry crop) is always lower when suitable manures are employed, and
concludes that " speaking generally the effect of suitable manure in enabling
the plant to economise water is the moot important factor which has been
noticed in relation to transpiration."
It appears possible, however, from more recent researches of the same-
author^ that the decrease in the transpiration ratio when suitable manures ara
added, is due rather to the more vigorous growth of the plant than to any
specific action of the manure on the transpiration ratio.
Dr. Leather has, at all events, shown this to be the case with super-
phosphate, which when supplied to a soil known to have no need for
phosphatic manuring did not lower the transpiration ratio.
This, however, is a case in which it is possible to confuse cause and effect.
The soil in question was unusually rich in available phosphoric acid,
containing more than three times as much as the richest of the other soils,
and it is not impossible that the transpiration ratio was affected by the
presence of soluble phosphoric acid in the soil.
J. W. PatersonJ has published results of experiments to determine the
transpiration ratio of oats, which are of interest in this connection, although
the question of the effect of manuring does not enter into the investigation.
He finds the transpiration figure for this crop, grown in pots and partially
shaded during the period of their growth, to be about 483, that is to say,
483 tons of water are transpired for every ton of dry crop produced.
He assumes that for plants of moderate development, grown in the open
air in Victoria, this figure would be 700, as against 870 in India (Leather,
loc. cit.) ; 522 in America (King) ; and 665 (Wollny) to 376 (Helleriegel) in
Europe.
According to Leather a 13-bushel crop of wheat (about 1 ton grain and
straw) will transpire 693 tons of water (or 6*8 inches of rain) per acre in
India. Dr. Paterson states that local conditions indicate that about 600
tons of water (6 inches of rain) per acre would pass through a 13-bushel
crop of wheat during its growth under Victorian conditions.
* " Memoirs," Dept. Agric., India, Cheml. Series, vol. 1, No. 8, p. 170.
f " Memoirs" Dept. Ag-'lc, India, Cheml. Series, vol. 1, No. 10, p. 230.
% "Jour. Dept. Agric., Victoria, vol. 10, p. 349.
16 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
This estimate is not, however, supported by experimental figures, and it is
to be hoped that Dr. Paterson will be able to continue his investigations so
as to include the determination of the transpiration ratio of an average
wheat-crop grown in the open under ordinary conditions, since the question
is one of the very first importance in wheat-growing in Australia, and in
establishing the geographical limits within which wheat-growing can be
successfully carried on with us.
The subject of soil physics is much too wide to come within the scope of
an address like the present one, but I have been tempted to draw attention
to the possible influence of fertilisers on the movement of soil-moisture,
because of the very great importance of the study of moisture conditions to
us in Australia. In this connection an interesting investigation has been
carried out by Dr. Heber Green and G. A. Ampt* in which are given methods
of determining the constants, specific pore space (the free space per unit
volume of soil), permeability to water and air, and capillary coefficient. It
would be of very great interest to determine the extent to which the
addition of fertilisers or soluble salts affect these constants.
Influence of Fertilisers on Soil-oxidation.
Another direction in which fertilising substances can function in other
Trays than as plant-food is in the promotion of oxidation in soils.
M. X. Sullivan and Reidf have shown that the oxidising power of soils is
increased by the presence of water up to the optimum, and by the common
fertilising substances, also by salts of iron, manganese, lime, and magnesia,
especially when simple organic hydroxyacids are present. They find that
soil-oxidation is comparable with the same process in plants and animals, and
that it is greater in surface than in subsoil, arid greater in fertile than in
barren soils.
O. Schreiner and H. S. ReedJ showed that calcium salts, phosphates, and
nitrates increase the oxidising power of plant roots, whilst potassium salts
tend to retard it.
Catalytes, or Plant Stimulants.§
There are also a large number of compounds whose presence in minute
quantities appear to have very often a quite remarkable effect upon plant
growth. These substances cannot be regarded as fertilisers in the ordinary
sense. Some of them are of rare occurrence in the soil, or occur only in
minute quantities ; many of them are distinctly injurious in any large
quantity. We are quite in the dark as to their precise function, and the
name " catalytic " has been given to them for want of a better.
* Journ. Agric. Science, vol. 4, p. 1, and vol. 5, p. 1.
t Journ. Ind. Evg. Chem., 1911, vol. 3, p. 25.
£ Bulletin 56, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A., Dept. of Agric. See also Schreiner, Sullivan,
and Reid, Bull. 73, Bureau of Soils, U.S.A., Dept. of Agric.
§ A bibliography has been kindly prepared by Mr. L. A. Musso, of the Department of
Agriculture, New South Wales, which is printed as an appendix and which may be found
useful to those who wish to look up the literature of the subject. An excellent resume
of the subject is also published by M. Cercelet, Revue de Viticulture, tome 38, No. 981,
p. 381.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 17
H. Ost found small quantities of fluorine to be always present in a number
of healthy leaves which he examined.
Aso, Oscar Loew, Ampola, and others, show that small quantities of
fluorine have a stimulating effect on many plants. Iodine has been shown
also to stimulate the growth of plants when in small quantities. Oscar
Loew and the Japanese chemists, who have done a great deal of work in
experimenting with the foregoing elements, and with lithium, caesium, and
uranium, find that they stimulate the growth of a number of plants both in
the field and in pots. Titanium has also been found to increase the yield of
crops. C. E. Wait has found titanium in the ash of every plant which he
has examined, and Annett states that the colour of the black cotton soil of
India is due to the presence of a titaniferous mineral. I have found
titanium to be present in soils of the black-soil plains in the north-west of
New South Wales, but cannot assert that this is the cause of their colour,
since other soils, from the same locality and derived from the same minerals,
which are red or chocolate in colour, also contain titanium. The addition of
flowers of sulphur has also been found to improve the yield of many crops.
{Copper is stated by some writers to increase plant growth when present in
small quantities, but by others to be injurious. Boron appears to be very
widely distributed in the plant world, and the proof of its presence as a
natural constituent of grapes and of wines is of considerable economic
interest. At the rate of ^ gramme per square metre it has been found
by Agulhan to increase enormously the yield of wheat, maize, rape, and
turnips.
The literature with regard to manganese, its occurrence in plants, and the
action of minute quantities, is voluminous. In minute quantities it appears
to be beneficial, in larger quantities toxic, and its toxicity appears to increase
with its stage of oxidation.
Other substances that may be mentioned in this connection are vanadium,
chromium, nickel, barium, zinc, mercury, didymium, and glucinum.
For the most part these substances are plant poisons, but quite remarkable
benefits have been obtained by their application in very small quantities.
It may very well be that some extremely important discovery may be
made as the result of the study of these catalytic fertilisers, one that may
throw some light on the question of plant assimilation. Among the most
striking results obtained to date appears to be the very remarkable effects
produced by some of these metallic salts upon moulds — the effect, for example,
of zinc upon the development of Aspergillus niger, ten times the quantity of
this mould being produced in solutions containing 1 in 50,000 of zinc.
The subject of catalytic fertilisers, or the action of small quantities of
substances on plant growth, is an extremely fascinating one, but too little is
known of the mechanism of the processes involved to make it desirable to
pursue the subject further in this place. It affords additional illustration of
the fact that the beneficial action of so-called fertilising substances is not
con tined to supplying the plant with food.
18 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
The minute quantities used are quite inadequate to supply plant-food in
the generally accepted sense of the term. For example, Aso, in some experi-
ments with peas, found that the growth of the crop was stimulated, and the
yield increased by O'OOl gramme sodium fluoride per 2 to 3 kilos of soil.
Another Japanese investigator found 940 grammes of the same salt per
hectare to benefit barley and certain grasses.
In the cases also where these substances act as plant-poisons, the propor-
tions are exceedingly minute. Similarly we know that iron-salts are neces-
sary for the production of chlorophyll, and that in the absence of iron in
the soil or culture medium the chlorophyll cells do not develop, and yet
chlorophyll itself contains no iron.
There is some action of which we are ignorant in all these cases, for an
explanation of which we must wait for the plant physiologist.
Recent work by Willstatter, Marchlewski, and others, has established the
fact that a great similarity exists between some of the products of the green-
colouring matter of plants and the haemoglobin or red-colouring matter
of the blood of animals and human beings. It has been shown that
chlorophyll is a magnesium compound, and contains no iron, which latter is
an essential constituent of the red-colouring matter of the blood. It would
appear as if the peculiar property of chlorophyll to absorb and split up
carbonic acid is due to the presence of magnesium in the chlorophyll mole-
cule, whereas its replacement by iron effects the absorption of oxygen. We
know of similar instances in which the introduction into an otherwise inert
organic molecule of metallic or elementary atoms results in remarkable
physiological activity. Ehrlich's celebrated specific against syphilis (a definite
amido-benzol compound containing arsenic) is one of the best known instances
in point. Wassermann has used a selenium derivative of eosin successfully
in the cure of cancer in mice.
A number of similar compounds are at present under trial, particularly in
the case of cancer.
The remarkable effects produced by the entrance of such elementary atoms
into the molecule is a fact of the highest significance, not only in the study
of disease in men and animals, but in plant physiology also.
The above short review of the work which is being done in the solution
of a certain class of soil problems shows that the action of fertilisers is not
confined to supplying the crop with food, but that it is far more complex, and
that fertilisers influence the physical structure of the soil, and also its
biological and chemical condition in a great variety of ways ; further, that
we have to take into account a large number of factors which afiecfc the
fertility of the soil and which are quite independent of its supply of plant-
food.
We have seen that fertilisers may exert an influence on the toxic matters
produced in the soil, the texture and the moisture-condition of the soil, on the
development of bacteria or fungi, on the oxidising power of the soil, and that
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 19
quite remarkable effects are produced by substances added in quantities much
too minute to act as nourishment to the plant.
I do not for a minute desire to underrate the great importance of
manuring in maintaining the fertility of the soil. I only wish to emphasise
the point that the old conception of manures as acting solely by supplying
plant-food must be abandoned.
There are, I venture to think, very few who would nowadays recommend a
particular manure formula based, on the one hand, on the composition of the
crop, and on the other, on the composition of the soil.
It appears to me that for the next important advance in our knowledge of
fertility conditions we must look in the near future to the plant physiologists
and the bacteriologists.
The great r6le played by toxic substances, perhaps of bacterial, perhaps of
chemical origin, leads us to look for substances which shall restrain their
development — for antitoxins.
Just as diseases in men and animals are being combated by the discovery
of substances which retard their progress, so it may be hoped that our plant
physiologists may be able to discover antitoxins which shall render harmless
the poisons which are secreted either by tke growing plant or by the
metabolism of organic matter in the soil, whether such substances are
produced by bacterial agencies or bypurely chemical changes. We shall, no
doubt, find that many substances which we now apply in the confident
anticipation of increased crop production act less by virtue of any special
plant-food with which they supply the crop than through their power of
retarding or preventing the formation of substances hostile to plant growth.
Soil-analysis will in the future concern itself less with the elaboration of
methods for determining the proportions of plant-foods, than in searching
for conditions likely to produce toxic substances, and for means to overcome
them. Unfertile conditions, whether due to soil-bacteria, fungi, or the
formation of poisonous chemical substances, will be combated by the same
weapons as are now employed against similar diseases in men and animals.
Whilst there is no intention in all that has gone before to suggest for a
moment that we should cease to manure with the recognised fertilisers —
potash, nitrogen, and phosphates — or that we should cease to conduct
experiments as to the best proportions of these manures for different crops,
still I feel that future progress in this matter lies more with actual farmers'
experiments, where the principles already established by careful scientific
investigations can be tested and modified to suit local conditions. I feel
that the time occupied in elaborate manure experiments on the old lines, and
in the elaboration of methods of soil analysis on the old lines, would be
better spent in the study of other factors productive of soil fertility or
infertility — such as some that I have outlined above— and I hope that it may
be possible for some of our Australian workers to devote more time to plant
hpysiology, to the study of soil toxins, and the elucidation of the conditions
which render a soil fertile or infertile — whether these are physical, chemical,
or biological in their nature.
20 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
APPENDIX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY of literature relating to catalytic fertilisers.
Compiled by L. A. MUSSO (Chemist's Branch).
Iron.
Action of FeSO4 in various soils. P. M. DELACHABRONNY and L. DESTREAUX.
(Bieder. Centr. 1889, 9-14.) The addition of FeSO4 to soil increased the
yield of wheat up to 3 per cent, of Fe2O3, then it decreased. The same with
potatoes, with lucerne, and with hay. FeSO4 may be applied at the rate of
300 kilos per hectare dry, or dissolved 5 kilos per 100 litres.
Influence of Iron and CaSO4 in nitrification. P. PICHARD. (Compt. Rend.
112, 1455-1458.) According to the Author, Fe has a good influence in soil
nitrification. The addition of FeSO4 is recommended for non-ferruginous
soils.
Iron in plant life. G. STAMPANI. (Staz. Sper., Agr. Ital. 19, 5-33.) Manganese
cannot take the place of Fe in the formation of chlorophyll.
Iron in plants. A. MOLISCH. (Bied. Centr. 22, 336-338.) Iron occurs in plants
partly in a loose form (when it may be extracted with an acid), and partly
in a closer union with the plant, and can only be detected in the ash. Algae
and fungi contain very little, but certain lichens contain much Fe, which can
be extracted with an acid. A remarkable case is the fruit shell of Trapa
natans, whose ash contain 68 per cent, of Fe2O3. Insoluble Fe is of very
general occurrence Iron is necessary to fungi, as well as to
green plants. Results contrary to this were due to the fact that nutritive
solutions were employed which were never quite free from Iron. Fungi
are able to appropriate the smallest amount of Fe.
Employment of FeSO4 in agriculture. E. BOIRET & G. PATUREL. (Ann Agron.
18, 418-440.) .... Sir H. Davy's opinion, in commenting upon the
results obtained with FeSO4 by Pearson, was that FeSO4 produced CaSO4,
and on the same theory he explained its injurious action when lime is
lacking in the soil. Gris and Dumont in France, and Griffiths in England,
had good results (y2 cwt. per acre), but not with cereals
FeSO4 is always injurious if the soil does not contain an excess of lime.
Organic compound of Fe in plants. U. Suzoki. (Bull. Coll. Agric. Tokyo Imp.,
Univ. 1901, 4, 260-266.) The seeds and leaves of Poligonum tinctorium and
those of Indigotifera tinctoria were found to contain 2-84 and 15-5 —
4-0 and 4-3 of crude ash per cent. The seeds of the first had 12-1 per cent.,
and those of the second 12 per cent, of Fe2O3; the leaves of the first 3-11,
those of the second 4-8 per cent. The greater portion of Iron is present in
a nucleiu-like substance.
Influence of Iron on barley. P. PETIT. (Compt. Rend. 117, 1105-1107.) Barley
was grown in sand freed from Fe, to which the necessary ash constituents
were added. Fe was supplied (1) in the form of barley nuclein, (2) with
Fe as FeSO4, (3) with Fe2 (SO4)3, (4) no Fe. Nuclein and FeSO4 were both
beneficial; Fe2 (SO4)3 acted as a poison.
Assimilation of Iron from cereals. GUSTAV VON BUNGE. (Zeit. physiol. Chem.,
1898, 25, 36-47.) Cereals in comparison with rice are very rich in Iron.
The greatest quantity is in the husk or bran. The Author finds the amount
of Iron (in milligrams per 100 grams of dry substance) to be as follows: —
Rice, 1 to 2; barley, 1-4 to 1-5; wheat-meal, 1-6; barley, 4-5; rye, 4-9;
wheat, 5-5; wheat-bran, 8-8.
Bark of Robinia pseudacacia. (FREDERICK B. POWER. (Pharm. Journ., 1901
(IV), 13, 25S-261.) The bark of Robinia pseudacacia contains a toxic
proteid, with about 4 per cent, of ash, wrhich contains a considerable amount
of Iron.
Hoots of Dorstenia klaincana. E. HECKEL & F. SCHLAGDENHAUFFEN. (Compt.
Rend., 1901, 133, 940-942.) Roots contain a very large proportion of
inorganic matter, the ash consisting of CaO and Fe2O3, the latter in large
quantity.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 21
Influence of Iron on combustibility of tobsicco. G. AMPOLA and S. Joviwo.
(Gazzetta, 1002, 32, 307-380.) The Authors give analyses of different kinds
of tobacco, and their combustibilities. The factors influencing the combus-
tibility of tobacco are its state of division, and the amount of metals,
especially Iron, contained in it.
Stimulants of plant growth, &c. OSCAR LOEW. (Landw. Jahresb, 1903, 32,
437.) .... (See Mn.) FeSO4 had a slight effect on oats.
Assimilation of Fe by spinach. O. VON CZADECK. (Zeit. Landw. Versuch.
Oesterr, 7, 65-67.) By manuring the soil with 0-5 to 2 per cent, of Fe2O3,
the percentage of Iron in spinach in pots was increased from 0-03 to 0-18, up
to 0-23 per cent, on the dry matter. No effect on growth was observed at
first, but later the plants appeared somewhat retarded.
Quantity of Fe contained in spinach. H. SEKGEE. (Chein. Centr., 1906, 1,
1668; from Pharm. Zeit., 51, 372.) Four samples of spinach contained
86-70 to 89-50 of H,O, and 9-58 to 13-30 of combustible substance. They
yielded 1-907 to 3-108 of ash. 100 grams of dry substance contained, on the
average, 0-104 grams of Fe.
An organic vegetable compound of Iron. P. JOSEPH TABBOUEICH and P. SAGET.
(Compt. Rend., 1909, 148, 517-519.) Of all the plants analysed, Rumex
obt-usifolhis is richest in Fe; the dried root contains 0-447 per cent. Fe.
This Fe is in a state of organic combination with C, H, N, P, &c., and is
soluble in alcoholic HC1.
Aluminium.
Alumina in plants. M. BEBTHELOT and GUSTAV ANDRE? (Compt. Rend., 1895,
120, 288-290.) Roots of lucerne contain 0-45 to 0-5 per cent. ALO3, those
of convolvulus 0-4, of couch grass 0-12 per cent.
Presence of aluminium in vascular cryptogams. A. H. CHURCH. (Proc. Roy.
Soc., 44, 121-129.) The Author found it in many Lycopodia?, in tree-ferns
in watermoss. The ash of an unknown fern-tree from New
Zealand contained 19-65 per cent, of ALO3.
Alumina in plants. L. RICCIARDI. (Gazzetta, 19, 150-1GO.) From 1-140 to 0-042
per 100 parts of ash.
Effect of aluminium salts on growth of plants. Y. YAMANO. (Bull. Coll. Agric.
Tokyo, 1905, 6, 420-432.) Pot exper. with barley and flax, in which
ammonia alum (02, 1 gram, and 2 grains per kilo of soil) was compared
with ainmon. sulphate, showed that moderate amount of alums have a
stimulating effect on plant development. In water culture 0-2 per cent,
alum acted injuriously after three weeks, and 1 -8 per cent, killed the plant
in a few days.
Alumina in plants. RADKOFER (Ber. Deut. Bot. Gesell, 1904, 22, 216) found
in various kinds of Symploccce a colourless substance consisting chiefly of
Al salts. These plants were named by Rumphius in 1690 Arbor alumi-
nosus.
Alumina in plants. HENRI PELLET and CH. FRIBOURG. (Ann. China. Anal.,
1905, 10, 373-376.) The Authors have found ALO3 present in very minute
quantities in the ashes of sugar-cane and beet-roots.
Influence of aluminium salts on germination. II. MICHAELS and P. DE HEEN.
(Bull. Acad. Roy. Beige., 1905, 520-523.) The Authors tested germination
of wheat in water. Under these conditions the addition of soluble Al salts
is injurious, whereas ALO3, or kaolin, is beneficial.
Aluminium, the chief inorganic element in a protaceous tree, and the occurrence
of Al slice-mate in trees of this species. HENRY G. SMITH. (Journ. Roy.
Soc. N.S.W., 1904, 37, 108-120.) Four specimens of Oritcs cxcclsa, (silky
oak) were found to contain large amounts of Al Samples of wood from
four different sources contained 0-039, 0-684, 0-673, 0-706 per cent, of ash,
which contained 79-61, 36-04, 43-03, 38-77 of A12O3 per cent.
When excessive amounts of Al are taken by the trees, deposits of Al
succinate are found. The ash of No. 2 contained traces of Co. and Fe.
In five varieties of GreviUece no Al was present.
22 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Influence of aluminium salts on the colour of flowers. VALENTINE VOUK.
(Oesterr. Bot. Zeit, 1909, 58, 236-243.) Plants of Hydrangea hortensis
watered with a solution of 3 per cent. alum, produced flowers of a fine
blue colour. Later the plant died. The best results were obtained with
1 per cent, solution. When A12(SO4)3 is used, the colouration is less
evident. Negative results were obtained with Phlox decussata.
Boron.
Boric acid as a plant constituent. C. A. CBAMPTON. (Amer. Chem. J., 11,
227-232.) The Author found B. in thirty-four out of thirty-six samples of
wine, also in watermelon and peach-tree; not in cider nor sugar-cane.
Boron in vegetable ash. E. BECHI. (Bull. Soc. Chim. (3), 3, 122.) The ash
of beech growing in borax district of Tuscany contains 1-30,000 of boric
acid.
Occurrence of Boron in vegetable kingdom, and its physiological meaning. E.
HOTTER. (Landw. Versuchs-Station, 37, 437-458.) . . . . B. was found
in all ashes of fruit, leaves, twigs of fruit-trees, and other plants. Water
cultures were made with Piseum sativum and Zea mais. When much B. is
taken up, the chlorophyll is destroyed . . . roots die. The greater the
concentration, the greater the noxious effects. (Concentration not stated.)
Action of boric acid in germination. J. MOREL. (Compt. Rend., 114, 131-133.)
The rate of germination of beans and wheat soaked in acid boric solution
(001 to 0-1 per cent.) is considerably retarded, the retardation being
proportional to the increase of strength of the solution. Plants germinated
are weak and etiolated.
Presence of boric acid in products of the soil. A. GASSEND. (Ann. Agrou., 17,
352-354.) The Author examined French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Algerian,
Corsican wines, and found boric acid a normal constituent of all, in the
proportion of 5 to 10 milligrams per litre. He finds similar traces of boric
acid in grapes, apples, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, and some peas, not in
all. None in tea, saffron, or cow's milk.
Distribution of boric acid in nature. HENRI HAY. (Compt. Rend., 1895, 896-
899.) The Author found wines to contain from 0-009 to 0-033 gram per
litre, the mean 0-017 to 0-023 per cent. The ash of the vine contains
from 4-7 to 16-5 gram per kilo ; the average is 8 to 12 grammes. The ash
of the mark from 1-4 to 3-5 per kilo. Leaves only 0-7 per kilo. Fruit,
leaves . . . contain from 1-5 to 6-4 grams of boric acid per kilo of ash.
In the ash of seaweeds, plantain leaves, chrysanthemum flowers, onions,
the quantity is from 2-1 to 4-6 grams per kilo. Gramineae and certain
fungi absorb very little . . . not more than 0-5 gram per kilo of ash.
Ash of coals, of sea salt, river, and spring waters contain B.
Presence of boric acid in genuine Sicilian wines. E. AZARELLO. (Gazzetta,
1906, 36, ii, 375-387.) Eighty-four samples of Sicilian wines all contained
boric acid. In six the amount was from 0-0191 to 0-041 grammes per litre.
Use of Boron as a catalytic manure. H. AGULHAN. (Compt. Rend., 1910, 150,
288-291.) The addition of boric acid was found beneficial to wheat grown
in nutrient media, unless the amount was higher than 0-01 gram per 1,000
grams of medium. Similar results were obtained under natural conditions
in earth. The increased yield (calculated on the dry plant) amounted to
50 per cent, with maize, 21 per cent, with rape-seed, 32 per cent, in case of
turnips, when a dose of 05 gram or boric acid per square metre was
employed.
Presence of Boron in Algerian wines. J. DUGAST. (Compt. Rend., 1910, 150,
838-839.) Traces of Boron have been found in different parts of Algerian
vines, notably in the branches, skins, and stones of the berry.
Presence of Boron in Tunisian wines. BEBTANCHAUD and GAUVRY. (Ann.
Chimie Anal., 1910, 15, 179-180.) Wines from Tunisia were found to
contain traces of Boron as a natural constituent.
Tolerance of maize to Boron. HENRI AGULHAN. (Compt. Rend., 1910, 151,
1382-1383.) Plants grown in a medium containing somewhat less than the
fatal amount of B. produce seeds, the plant of which has acquired a certain
measure of immunity to the poison.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 23
Action of Boron on vegetables. A. and P. ANDOUARD. (Engrais, 26, 942-3.)
B. exerted a beneficial influence on, and increased yield of, onions. With
beans a slightly depressive action was observed.
Fluorine.
Estimation of fluorine in plants. H. OST. (Ber., 26, 151-154.) Analysis of
ash of leaves of various plants, growing under healthy conditions; in all
cases a small quantity of F, about 0-01 per cent., was found.
Action of NaF on plant-life. KEIJIRO Aso. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Imper. Univ.
Tokyo, 1902, 5, 187-195.) Solutions of 005 per cent, of NaF have a more
or less injurious effect on the germinating power of seeds. In cases of
barley and rice, growth was stimulated by solutions containing 0-001 per
cent. NaF ; wheat was injured by it. Peas grown in soil were stimulated
by small amount, 0-001 gram per 2 to 3 kilos of soil.
Stimulants of plant growth, their practical employment. OSCAR LOEW. (Landw.
Jahrb., 1903, 32, 437.) NaF increased the yield both of oats and peas.
Treatment of crops by stimulating compounds. OSCAR LOEW. (Bull. Coll.
Agric. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 1904, 6, 161-175.) . . . fluorine promises to
be of agricultural importance.
Action of CaF;, on Vesuvian soils. GASPARE AMPOLA. (Gazzetta, 104, 34, ii,
156-1G5.) The soil was very poor in K. The land was manured with
superphosphate and NaNO3, and varying amounts of CaF,. The crops
were greatly increased by the use of CaF,, and so also was the amount of
K assimilated by the crops.
Poisonous action of NaF on plants. OSCAR LOEW. (Allg. Bot. Zeit, 94, 330-338.)
NaF acts injuriously in two ways — it withdraws Ca from plants, and also
acts like an alkaloid.
Stimulating action of CaF2 on Phanerogams. KEJIERO Aso. (Bull. Coll. Agric.
Tokyo Imp. Univ., 1906, 7, 85-89.) .... The results of water and soil
culture experiments indicated that precipitated CaF, probably had some
stimulating effect. It is suggested that the better results obtained with
Wiborg phosphate as compared with superphosphate may be due to the
presence of 1 per cent, of F. in the former.
Stimulating influence of NaF on garden plants. KEJIERO Aso. (Bull. Coll.
Agric. Tokyo Imp. Univ., 7, 83-84.) Pot experiments with Hclichrysum
bractcatum and Pecliciilaris viscide showed that 0-02 gram of NaF in 8
kilos of soil increased the yield of Pedicularis, but no effect was visible on
the Heliclinjsnm.
Action of CaF, on Vesuvian soil. G. AMPOLA and SANTE DE GRAZIA. (Staz.
Sperim. Agr. Ital., 1906, 39, 590-592.) Further experiments showed that
the addition of CaF2 to Vesuviau soils always increased the yield and the
quantity of assimilable potassium.
Influence of stimulating compounds on crops. S. UCHIGAMA. (Bull. Imp. Cent.
Agric. Stat. Japan, 1907, 1, 37-39. ) . . . . NaF had a powerfully stimu-
lating action on Panicum, and also increased the yield of barley. The
amounts of NaF were 940 and 5,000 grams per hectare.
Presence of Fluorine in grapes. F. LEPERRE. (Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg., 1C09.
23, 82-84.) . . . Dried grapes from Malaga and Sultana were incine-
rated, and 5 grams of the ash tested for fluorine. In most cases the result
was negative. According to the Author there should be no F. in genuine
wines.
Function of mica in arable soils. BIELER CHATELAN. (Compt. Rend.. 1910,
150, 1132-1135.) Exper. in pot culture have shown that the roots of some
plants are capable of assimilating the K of insoluble silicates, such as white
mica. Mica, with apatite and tourmaline, may be the principal source of
the F. found in the plants.
Fluorine in wines. A. KICKTON and W. BEIINCKE. (Zeitsch. Nahr. Genuss..
1910, 20, 193-208.) The Authors have found F. in many wines of 134
samples examined ; most gave positive reaction. According to the Authors
F. must have been added.
24 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Chromium.
Toxicity of chromium compounds. HENRI Corriiv. (Compt. Rend., 1808, 127,
977-978.) Water culture experiments lend to the following toxic equiva-
lents : —
K-Cr2(S04)a Cr2 (S04)3 Cr 03 K, Cr ()4 K2 Or, 0, Na, Cr 04
1 -142. 0-5. 0-006. 016. 0-03. 0'125.
Na<> Cr3 07 Air.o Cr 04 Am2 Cn> 07
0-0064. 006. 0-025.
Chromic acid is the worst, bichromate less harmful than chromic acid.
The stimulative and toxic effects of various chromium compounds on plants.
PAUL KOENIG. Landw. guhresb., 1910, 39, 775-91G.) A comprehensive
study of the action of chromium on plant life; the action of chromium salts,
dichromates and chroma tes in varying concentrations, either alone or in
conjunction with lime, P«O3 and various salts, was observed on represen-
tatives of numerous natural orders, both in soil and water cultures; and
the toxic and stimulative concentrations for each family recorded in tables.
The results obtained by other workers, that the higher the degree of
oxidation the more toxic its effect, were confirmed.
Chromium in soil. C. J. WARDEN. (Chern. News, 63, 85.) Soil from Andaman
Islands. This soil from a coffee plantation contained 1-6134 per cent, of
chromium oxide.
Copper.
Copper in various parts of the vine. F. SESTINI. (Staz. Sperirn. Agrar. Ital.,
24, 115-132.) One vine died, presumably having been watered with a
solution of CuSO4. Four samples of vine leaves not treated with CuSO4
contained 0-00047 to 0-00056 to 0-00060 and 0-00054 per cent, of copper.
Effect of Cu salts on the growth of the vine and on soil. BERLESE and LIVIO
SOSTEGNI. (Bied. Central!)., 1895, 24, 768-769.) .... When the roots
of a vine were allowed to grow in a 1 per cent, solution of CuSO4, Cu could
only be detected in the roots. Cu remains in the soil as oxyhydrate of the
basic sulphate, or as a double salt of Cu and Ca. The basic sulphate being
readily decomposed by CO2, dissolves, and is absorbed by plants.
Toxicity of copper salts. ALEXANDER TSCHIRCH. (Ann. Agron.. 1S95, 21, 544.)
Contrary to what is generally supposed, copper is not poisonous to plants.
Whilst the sulphate, nitrate, and chloride are corrosive, plants take up
copper without injury from soils containing copper compounds. Haricots
grew better in nutritive solutions to which 0-06 per cent, of copper oxide
was added, than in absence of copper. Frank and Kruger (Ann. Agron.,
1895, 21, 42) showed that the copper-lime preparation had a beneficial
effect on the development of potatoes.
Poisonous effects of cupric salts on higher plants. HENRI COUPIN. (Compt.
Rend., 1898, 127, 400-401.) Experiments on young wheat plants lead to the
following toxic equivalents, which represent the minimum quantity of the
salt that must be dissolved in 100 parts of water to kill the plants: — Cu
bromide 0-004875, Cu chloride 0-005, CuSO4 0-005555, Cu acetate 0-005714, Cu
nitrate 0-0061. It seems ctear that the effect is due to the Cu ion. It
follows that the use of solutions of cupric salts as germicides is attended
with considerable risk.
Presence of copper in plants, and the amount they may contain. EDOUARD
HECKEL. (Bull. Soc. Botau. de France, 1899, 46, 42-43.) Analysis of
Policarpca spirostjilis are given, showing one sample containing 30 milli-
grams of Cu per 1,000 grams of dry matter, whilst other plants growing in
soils very rich in copper contained as much as 500 milligrams per kilo. In
Australia the presence of Policarpca is thought to be an indication of
copper in the soil. The ash of the seeds of Quassia gabonensis were found
to contain 0-698 per cent, of Cu ; the ash of the seed without the seed coat
contained only 0-254 per cent. Viola calaminaria is said to contain a
considerable quantity of zinc; and the presence of the plant usually
indicates Zn in the soil.
Pot experiments with soils containing Cu. ALB. STUTZEE. (Landwirt Sch.
Versuchs-Stat., 1906, 65, 285-288.) Trifolium pannonicum was grown in
pots containing 10 kilos of' sand mixed with garden soil. Two pots received
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 25
Cu finely powdered, 10 grams and 1 gram respectively. Two pots respec-
tively 10 grams and 1 gram of CuO. No injury was observed, except in pot
with 10 grams CuO, where the plant failed to grow.
Action of different amounts of Cu in soil on the growth of plants. ,T. SIMON.
(Landw. Versuchs Station, 1909, 71, 417-429.) Experiments with 0-001 and
0-01 of CuSO4 per cent, of soil gave reduced yields.
Influence of some metallic compounds on the growth of wheat. V. NASARI.
(Atti. R. Accadem. Lincei., 1001 (v), 19, ii, "301-307.) CuSO4 affected the
growth unfavourably.
Sulphur.
Action of flowers of sulphur on vegetation. E. BOULLANGER. (Compt. Rend.r
1912, 154, 309-370.) The addition of small quantities of flowers of sulphur
to soil improves the yield of plants, such as carrot, haricot, potatoes. As-
this improvement is more marked with ordinary soils than with sterilised
material, it would seem that S. acts indirectly by modifying the develop-
ment or activity of bacterial flora. The quantity used was 7 decigrams to
30 kilograms of soil.
The fertilising action of Sulphur. A. DELNOLON. (Compt. Rend., 154, 524-520.)
The beneficial effects of crude gas-works ammonium salts must be partly-
attributed to free S, as the amount of N and its state of combination in
crude ammonium salts residue from gas-works is insufficient to account
for it.
Amount of sulphur in plants. SERGEI M. BOGDANOFF. (Journal Russ. Phys.
Chem. Soc., 31, 471-477.) Estimation of S. in vegetable ashes gives incorrect
results, except when small amounts of HNOS are added. Plants contain
much more S than is indicated in Wolf's tables, and the Author believes
the estimation of H2SO4 in soils to be of practical importance. In some
Russian soils certain crops gave considerably higher yields after manuring-
with sulphates.
Application of CS2 in mulberry culture. J. N. SIRKER. (Imp. Coll. Agric. Tokyo,.
1909, 1, 185-187.) Application of CS2 to the soil (450 c.c. to 10 square-
metres) increased the yield of mulberry leaves by 44 per cent.
Sulphur in soils. W. H. PETERSON. (J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1911, 33, 549-504.)
The Author's results show that considerable quantities of S are removed
from the soil by common crops. In cases in which farm manure had been
regularly and liberally applied, the S contents had been maintained,,
or even increased. Suitable sources of S are farm manure, superphos-
phates, K2SO4, CaSO,, &c.
The fertilising action of Sulphur. L. DEGRULLY, Montpellier. (Progres Agric.
et Vitic., 57, 321-324.) Experiments during 1911 showed that the addition
of 109 grammes of Sulphur per square metre doubled the crop of beets,
and increased that of turnips 33 per cent. A great part of S appears later
in the soil as sulphates. Increased crops may be due to sulphates formed
or to the direct stimulating effect on S on plant.
Action of Sulphur on vegetation. E. CHANCRIN and A. DESSIOT. (Journ. Agr.
prat., 21, 427-429.) In Germany the use of S for potato diseases was not
only effective in reducing the disease, but increased the yield of potatoes.
The Authors report experiments in which S was used at the rate of
250 to 500 kilos per hectare in conjunction with superphosphate, K2SO4 andf
NaNCv
Sulphur as a fertiliser. D. HERLINGER. (Wiener Landw. Ztg., 02, 132-133.)
Sulphured rows of potatoes gave higher yields, but because of unfavourable-
weather, other contributing causes are not excluded.
Iodine.
Absorption of Iodine by plants. PAUL BOURGET. (Compt. Rend., 1899, 129,
708-770.) Twenty-eight plants of nine different orders were grown in
carefully prepared soil, containing 083 milligrams of Iodine per kilo.
Cut when mature, and Iodine estimated. Iodine was found to vary from
nil (in potato, gherkin, black radish, parsley, carrot, chicory, endive) to-
0-32 (in green haricots), 0.38 (in Beta cijcla) up to 0-94 (in garlic) niilli-
/, grams per kilogram.
26 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Action of Iodine on growth of plants. S. SUZUKI. (Bull. Coll. Agric. Tokyo
Imper. Univers., 1902, 5, 199-201.) KI at the rate of 0,006 gram in 2 to 3
kilos of soil increased the growth of peas, both as regards straw and seed.
Stimulants of plant .growth, their practical employment. OSCAR LOEW.
(Landw. Jahrb., 1903, 32, 437.) . . . (See Mn.) . . Small amounts
of KI had good effect.
Stimulating action of KI on sesamum and spinach. S. UCHIYAMA. (Bull.
Imper. Centr. Agric. Exper. Station, Japan, 1900, 1, 35-37.) Small amounts
of KI increased yield both of sesamum and spinach. In pot experiments
with sesamum there was an increase of 10 per cent, when KI was added,
at the rate of 124 grammes per hectare, and 25 per cent, when ten times
that quantity. In a field experiment on a plot having an area of 59-5 square
metres, the yield was increased 24 per cent, by 25 grammes of KI. The
results are interesting, as it is usual along the coast to employ seaweed as a
manure.
Influence of stimulating compounds on crops. S. UCHIYAMA. (Bull. Imp. Centr.
Agric. Exper. Stat, Japan, 1907, 1, 37-79.) KI increased the yield of
Panicum miliaceum by 28 per cent., and barley by 34 per cent., the most
suitable amount being 376 and 500 grammes per hectare respectively.
Function of Iodine in marine Algae. FRANCESCO SCURTI. (Gazzetta, 1906, 36,
ii, 619-625.) The Author experimented on Sargassum linifolium', he
concludes that Iodine holds in algse the place that Cl holds in phane-
rogams.
Lithium.
Behaviour of plants toward Lithium salts. GIRO RAVENNA and M. ZAMORANI.
(Atti. R. Accad. Lmcei., 1909 (v), 18, ii, 626-630. Finding that the
ash of tobacco leaves contains sufficient Li to impart a marked colouration
to a flame, the Authors have investigated the effect of Li2SO4 on various
plants. On tobacco and potatoes no toxic action was observed, but some
on oats, and more marked on beans.
Action of Lithium and Caesium on vegetation. M. KATAMURA. (Bull. Coil.
Agric. Tokyo, 1904, 6, 153-157.) Li2CO, has a slightly stimulating effect
on barley and peas.
Influence of salts of Lithium and Ca?siuni on wheat. J. A. YOELCKER. ( J. Roy.
Agr. Soc. Eng., 71, 344-5.)
C»sium.
Csesium as a manure. M. KATAMURA. (See above re Lithium.) CsCl, at the
rate of 0-1 gram per kilo of soil, slightly increased the yield of rice.
Uranium.
Stimulants of plant growth. OSCAR LOEW. (Bull. Agric. Imper. Univ. Tokyo,
1902, 5, 173-175.) Solutions of 0-01 per cent. Uran. nitrate increased the
yield of peas and oats ; solutions of 0-2 per cent, were fatal in three days.
Stimulants of plant growth, and their practical employment. OSCAR LOEW.
(Landw. Jahrb., 1003, 32, 437.) Uranyl nitrate increased the yield both of
oats and peas.
Titanium.
Presence of Ti in plant ash. CHARLES E. WAIT. (J. Amer. Chemic. Soc., 1S96,
18, 402-404.) Titanium occurs in every plant ash that the Author has
examined. . . . Ash from coal contains Ti, Pennsylvania anthracite
•coal as much as 2 59 per cent. According to Author, Oakwood ash contains
0 31, cow pea ash 001, apple and pear wood ash 021. Cotton seed meal
has 002 of Ti.
Nature of the colour of the black cotton soil of India. H. E. ANNETT. (Mem.
Dept. Agric., India, 1910, 1, 185-203.) The dark colour is due to a mineral
containing 18-07 per cent, of TiO,
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 27
Manganese.
(a) Presence of Manganese in Plants.
SCHEELE. (Meiuoires de Chimie, Dijon, 1785.) The ash of the seed of the wild
anise contains a small amount of Mn ; a considerably larger amount
occurs in the stems of the same plant.
HEBAPATH. (Cited by Rousset, Ann. Sci. Agron., 3 sec., 4 (1909), II, p. 82.)
Found Mn in the ash of radish, beet, and carrot.
SALM-HOBSTMAR. (Journ. prakt. Chem., 4G (1849), p. 193.) Mn occurs in the
ash of oats.
J. LIEBIG. (Familiar letters on chemistry, London, 1851, 3 ed., pp. 458-459.)
Tea contains manganese.
HILGARD. (Rpt. Geol. and Agr., Mississippi, 18GO, p. 360.) The ash of the
long-leaf pine from Mississippi contains in some instances a relatively
large percentage of manganese.
LECLEP.C. (Compt. Rend., 75, 1872, p. 1213.) The Author, from his investi-
gations, concludes that Mn is a universal constituent of soils, and likewise
occurs in many plants.
MAUMENE. (Compt. Rend., 98, 1884, p. 1418.) The parenchyma of cabbage
leaves contains only a trace of Mn, but the veins contain considerable
quantities.
H. BRIDGES and W. WATSON. (Chem. News, 1899, 79, 154-167.) The Authors
have found Mn present in the ash of Cardamoms. (Amount not stated.)
A. B. GRIFFITHS. (Compt. Rend., 1900, 131, 422-423.) Mn is present in the ash
of sarsaparilla, hydrastis, cardamom, oak, rhatany, and belladonna.
CHARLES F. SCHLAGDENAUFFEN and E. REEB. (Compt. Rend., 1904, 980-983.)
The residue after incinerating the light petroleum extract of ripe barley
consists of P,O3 and phosphates of Ca, Mn, Fe, which existed in the plant as
metallic derivatives of lecithin.
X. PASSERINI. (Boll. Instit. Agrar. Scandicci, 1S05 (ii), 6, 3-14.) Lupins were
grown in a soil containing, when dry, 0 068 per cent, of Mn. The Mn per-
centage in the ash, as Mn2O2, was: leaves 12 per cent., steins 4-5 per cent.,
nodules 0-3 per cent. Pot experiments in sand containing 0-0002 of Mu.
per cent., with and without addition of MuCO3, showed no apparent differ-
ence. The dry matter of the plants grown with MnCO3 contained 00095
Mn, with MiiCOs 00636 per cent.
O. PRANDI and A. CIVETTA. (Staz. Sper. Agr. Ital., 1911, 44, 66-83.) Twenty-
four wines analysed all contained Mn. Mn. equals 0 53 or 1-5 per million.
Usually, the better the wines, the more Mn.
(b) Manganese as a Manure.
E. GIGLIOLI. (Ann. R. Scuola Sup. Agr. Portici, 2 ser. (1001), p. 133.) Mn
applied at the rate of 102 Ib. per acre in some wheat experiments. In some
instances it resulted in an increase, in some instances a decrease, of yield.
Aso. (Bull. College of Agr. Tokyo Imp. Univ., 5. pp. 177-185.) The Author
cultivated barley, radishes, wheat, and peas in culture solutions containing
MnSO4, and concludes that in sufficiently dilute solutions Mn exerts a
stimulating effect. He finds that in concentrated solutions Mn exerts a
toxic effect, greatest in cold weather.
LOEW and SAW A. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 5, 161-172.) By adding
a small amount of MnSO4 to culture solutions, a considerable increase in
the growth of barley, rice, cabbage, beans, and peas was effected. Same
results were obtained in pots.
NAGAOKA. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Tokyo Imp. Univ., 1GO2-3, 5, pp. 467-472.) The
Author grew rice in soil in boxes, to which MnSO4 was applied, with a
general fertiliser. The increased growth of rice was found to be propor-
tional to the Mn applied up to 44 Ib. per acre, larger applications bringing
about the same result. The following year, without any further application,
an increase of 17 per cent, was noticeable.
NAGAOKA. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Tokyo Imp. Univ., 1906, 7, pp. 77-81.) The above
detailed experiments were continued, using Mn sulphate, chloride, and
carbonate. The season was very unfavourable to the growth of rice; in
most instances a decrease of yield was obtained. The fact that increased
28 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
growth had been obtained the two previous years by application of Mn,
according to the Author, may have partially exhausted the available plant
food, so as to bring about the need for a general fertiliser.
OSCAR LOEW. (Landw. Jahrb., 1003, 32, 437.) Small amounts of MnSO4
increased the yield, providing the manuring was normal, the effect varying
with the different families of plants. Crucifers seem more sensitive than
Gramme. In rice the relation of grain to straw was improved by Mn, as
well as the yield.
OSCAR LOEW and SEIROKU HONDA. (Bull. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 1904, 6, 126-130.)
MnSO4 applied to Cryptomeria japonica more than doubled the weight of
the tree in eighteen months.
OSCAR LOEW and SEIROKU HONDA. (Bull. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 1904, G, 136-137.)
Joint application of Fe aud Mn had a distinct effect in increasing the yield
of flax, whilst separated had less effect.
JOHN A. VOELCKER. (Journ. Itoy. Agr. Soc., England, 64 (1903), p. 348; 65,
(1904), p. 306.) In pot experiments the Author found a decrease in the
growth of wheat and barley by using MnI2, while nitrate and phosphate had
a good effect. Germination and sprouting were retarded by Mn2O3 and
MnSO4, wrhile a deeper green and more luxuriant growth were obtained
with MnCl2.
GABRIEL BERTRAND. (Compt. Rend., 1905, 141, 1255-57.) Soil was clayey, and
contained 0-057 per cent, of Mn soluble in HC1 (0-024 soluble in acetic
acid). Oats were grown in plots of 20 acres; to one was added MnSO4, at
the rate of 50 kilo per hectare. The gain \vas 17 per cent, of grain, and
26 per cent, of straw. The grain produced with Mn weighed 46-5 kilos per
hectolitre, without Mn 44 kilos. The grain of both plots contained the same
amount of Mn, 0-000004 per cent.
BERTRAND and TIIOMASSIN. (Compt. Rend., 141, 1905, p. 1256.) Oats grown
in a soil containing 0-057 per cent. Mn gave a considerable increase in
yield when MnSO< was applied. The general appearances were the same in
both plots, but there was a notable difference in yield.
STRAMPELLI. (Atti. 6° Congresso Internaz. Chimica Applic., 4, 1906, pp. 14-17.)
The Author reports considerable increases in the yield of various grains
by the use of MnSO4, MnCl2, MuO2.
II. MICHAELS and P. DE HEEN. (Bull. Acad. Royale Beige., 1906, 286-289.)
Colloidal solutions of Mn have a slightly more stimulating effect on
germination of plants than similar solutions of tin.
GIOVANNI SALOMONE. (Staz. Sperim. Agrarie Ital., 1906, 38, 1015-1024.) Small
quantities of Mn have a beneficial influence, large are toxic. . . . Small
quantites of MnI2 exerted a favourable influence on germination of
cabbage and carrot seeds.
JOHN A. VOELCKER. (J. Roy. Agric. Soc. England. 1905, 66, 206-211.) In the
case of wheat, soaking the seed in solution of Mn and FeSO4 (no more than
2 per cent.) is beneficial to germination. K and Na silicates are beneficial
to wheat and barley.
TOMIO KATAYAMA. (Bull. Imper. Coll. Agric. Univ. Tokyo, 100f», 7, 91-93.)
Whilst MnSO4 (0-015 per cent.) gave with peas an increase of 50 per cent.
on straw and 25 per cent, on seed, in case of cereals the increase was only
10 per cent.
MUNESHIGI NAGOOKA. (Bull. Coll. Agri. Imper. Univ. Tokvoo. 1906. 7, 77-81.)
Experiments with rice were repeated in 1904. MnSO4 was applied at
different rates, from 30 to 170 kilos per hectare. The greatest gain was
with 77 and 107 kilos per hectare, .about 15 per cent.
Aso. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Tokyo Imp Univ.. 1907, 7, 449-453.) Further experiments
with rice and MnCl2 resulted in slight increase in yield, loss than former
years. Where Mn was used in addition to a liberal application of other
fertilisers, scarcely any effect was produced, while with soils which had
been continuously cultivated without a general manure it gave an increase
of 23-5 per cent. Summing up the results, Aso states : " On the manganese
plots the increase was relatively greatest wrhere the manuring conditions
were less favourable."
MOLINARI and LIGOT. (Bull. Agr. (Brussels), 23, 1907, p. 764.) The Authors
conducted a series of pot experiments with oats, using a soil containing
- from 0-01 to 0-07 per cent. Mu. In addition to a complete fertiliser, MnSO4
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 29
was applied, from 0-05 to 0-20 grams per pot. The maximum increase in
yield was obtained by the application of 0-10 gram per pot; use of larger
quantities only producing slight increases.
W. VAN DAM. (Chem. Weekblad, 1907, 4, 391-397.) When seeds are soaked
in MuSO4 solution, or MuSO4 is used as a fertiliser, the yield is increased.
GIOVANNI SALOMONE. ( Staz. Sper. Agrar. Ital., 40, 1907, 97-117. ) Experiments la-
the fields confirm the results. (See previous abstract.) MnSO4, Mn (NO3)2r
and MnO2 exert the most beneficial influence on corn. A table is.
given showing the useful and toxic proportions. One grain Mn per square
metre improved growth of meadow grass. Fifty kilos of MnSO4 per
hectare benefit wheat ; above this quantity, toxic.
KJALMA VON FEILITZEN. (J. Landw., 1907, 55, 289-292). The soil, chiefly de-
composed sphagnum peat, had been under cultivation since 1894. Ail
application of 10 kilos of MnSO4 per hectare had no effect on oats.
S. UCHIYAMA. (Bull. Imp. Centr. Agric. Exper. Station, Japan, 1907, 1, 37-39.)
Plots experiments. The soil was a diluvial loam, rich in organic matter,
containing 0-414 of MnSO, soluble in hot HC1, and 0-07G soluble in citric
acid 1 per cent. "Wheat and barley showed very little effect with MnSO4,
whilst grasses, buckwheat, radishes, carrot, Brassica campestris, and tea
plants were considerably benefited. The amount of MnSO4 varied from 10
to 37-0 kilos per hectare as Mn3O4. Better results were obtained when
applied as a top-dressing. Further experiments in bottomless cylinders
showed that with barley the grain and total yield increased 18 per cent,
up to 24 per cent, by 25 kilos of Mn8O4 per hectare.
WALTER F. SUTHERST. (Transvaal Agric. Journal, 1908, 6, 437.) Experiments
in pots 3 feet high, with an area of about 1 square yard. Mn was applied
as MnCl2 2 grammes, MuSO4 2 grammes, and Mn2O2 5 grammes per pot.
Mn203 gave the best results.
ACII. GREGOIRE, J. HENDRICK, and EM. CARPIAUX. (Bull. Ind. Chim. Bacter.
Gembloux, 1908, N. 75, 00-72.) Fifty kilos per hectare of MuSO4 gave an
average increase of 7 per cent. Smaller amounts, 10 kilos, no effect. No
sensible results in case of sugar beet.
JOHN A. VOELCKER. (Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc. England, 1907, G8, 264-2GG.) LiCl
and Li2SO4 had a bad effect on wheat. FeSO4, MnCl2, and MnSO4, not more
than 1 cwt. per acre, acted beneficially.
SIGURD RHODIN. (K. Landtbr. Akad. Handl. Tidskr., Stockholm, 1908, 30-32.)
Experiments inconclusive.
T. TAKEUKI. (J. Coll. Agr. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 9109, 1, 207-10.) Different
plants were grown in the same soil in pots, both with and without MuSO4
(MnSO4 4 H2O, 0-2 grams in 8 kilos of soil). The increase clue to Mn was
as follows : — Barley 5-3, flax 13 9, pea 19 4, spinach 41 per cent.
M. DE MOLINARI. (Ann. Gembloux, 1908, 009.) Manganese, zinc, copper, and
ferrous sulphate failed to increase the yield of oats and barley. The soU
contained, however, a good deal of manganese.
F. MACII. (Ber. Grossh. Bad. Landw. Versuch Anst. Augustenb, 1910, 51, 5.)
Application of MnSO4 in pots and field experiments seemed to have no
result on the growth of tobacco.
V. NASARI. (Atti. R. Accad. Lincei, 1910 (v), 19, ii, 361-367.) From experi-
ments in laboratory and in the field on germination of wheat the Author
finds MnO2, MnSO4. MnCO3 to exert a favourable influence on the growth of
the plant.
BABTMANN. (Jouru. Agr. prat. n. ser., 20 (1910), N. 47, p. GG6.) The Author
describes some experiments where Mn was applied as MnCl2, MnCO3, MnO2,
MnSO4, and two products from Mn mines, consisting primarily of Mn2Ot
and Mn3O4. Beets, peas, and beans were considerably increased in yield
by MnCOa, whilst MnO2, MnCl2, MnSO4 had but little effect, as also the
products from the mines.
30 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
JOHN A. VOELCKEK. (J. Roy. Agric. Soc. England, 1010, 71, 343-350.) Small
amount of Li (Li — 0-0018 per cent.) seems to have a stimulating effect on
wheat, no injury if under 0-002 per cent. Cs salts may be employed up to
0-0036 per cent, without injury. Zn salts are injurious when soil has 0-04
per cent. zinc. Barley showed better result with FeSO4 (002 per cent.),
vand MnSO4 (0-005 to 0-08 per cent.) similar effects with soil.
P. LEIDRETER. (Inaug. Diss. Ilostock. Bied. Zent, 1911, 40, 531-535.) Man-
ganese gave good results with oats, beans, mustard, sugar-beet, mangold.
A. CABLIER. (Ann. Gembloux, 1910, 423.) MnSO4 applied at the rate of 50
and 100 kilos per hectare increased yield of hay up to 09 and 9-5 per cent. ;
it reduced yield of potatoes by 9 and 0-6 per cent. ; it reduced yield of man-
golds (roots) by 2-5 and 1 per cent; it reduced yield of leaf of mangolds
by 2-5 and 20 per cent.
L. BERNARDINI. (Staz. Speriin, Agr. Ital., 1910, 43, 217-240.) The chief effect
of Mn is the production of Ca and Mg soluble compounds from insoluble
forms, so that Mn may be considered as an indirect Ca and Mg manure.
J. STOCKLASAI. (Compt. Rend., 1911, 152, 1340-1342.) The author confirms
Bertrand's experiment on the beneficial effect of Mn on plant development.
Nutrient solution containing 1-1,000 of the gram atomic weight of Mn and
Al per litre increased the yield of the plant, but if both are present a toxic
effect follows. The best results are obtained from solutions containing
half the above quantities.
THEODORE PFKIFFER and E. BLANCK. (Landw. Versuchs Stat, 1912, 77, 33-66.)
Experiments in pots and small pots are described. . . . Conclusion:
under some conditions Mn salts may have favourable effect on plant de-
velopment ; it is, however, doubted whether the action of Mn is of practical
importance, and more evidence is required before its employment can be
recommended. )
H. BABTMANN. (Journ. Agr. prat., 20, pp. 666-7.) The yield of potatoes and
sugar-beet was greatly increased by Mn salts. The greatest yield was
obtained from using 176 to 352 Ib. to the acre.
LUIGI MONTEMARTINI. ( Pavia Bot. Instituto. from Staz. Sper. Agr. Ital., 44,
564-571.) Experiments show that MnSO4 as well as CuSO4 in very dilute
solutions exert a strong s'dmulatiug action.
A. and P. ANDOTJARD. (Engrais, 2G, 915-G.) The Authors experimented with
wheat, potatoes, carrots, and kidney beans. Mn increased the yield of
wheat and beans, but slightly decreased the yield of carrots and potatoes.
Y. FUKUTOME. (Bull. Coll. Agr. Tokyo, 1004, 6, 126-130.) The joint applica-
tion of Iron and Manganese had a distinct effect in increasing the yield of
flax; separately they had less effect. Cobalt nitrate (002 gram in 8 kilos
of soil) had also a stimulating effect.
(<•) Influence of Manganese on Alcoholic Fermentation.
E. KAYSER and H. MARCHAND. (Compt. Rend., 1007, 145, 343-346.) More com-
plete fermentation is obtained by using yeasts accustomed to the presence
of Mn.
E. KAYSER and H. MARCHAND.. (Compt. Rend., 1007, 144, 714-71G.) Mn has a
beneficial effect.
E. KAYSER. (Compt. Rend., 1910, 151, 816-817.) MnNO., is more active than
KNO3 in alcoholic fermentation.
d] Manganese as a Toxic Agent.
W. P. KELLEY. (Journ. Ind. Eng. Chem., Vol. I, p. 533.) The Author finds
Mn in Hawaiian soils which are toxic to pine-apple.
F. B. GUTHRIE and L. COHEN. (Journ. Roy. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. 43, p. 354-60.)
Two samples of the same soil, one in normal condition, and the other from
patches where grass would not grow, analysed, showed the presence in the
second one of 0 254 per cent, of Mn,O3, which was quite absent in the first.
The Authors attribute the sickness of the soil to the Mu present.
W. P. KELLEY. (Hawaii Agr. Exp. Stat. Bull., No. 26.) A long and interesting
work on the action of Mn on Hawaii vegetation. The Author has found
that some plants are affected by Mn and some not. In practically every
\ instance a modification of the mineral balance in the ash was observed.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 31
The ratio of absorbed lime to absorbed magnesia increased under the
influence of Mn, regardless of whether the plant showed a toxic effect or
not. According to the Author, the effects of Mn are largely indirect, and
are to be explained by its bringing about a modification in the osmotic
absorption of lime and magnesia ; and the toxic effects are chiefly brought
about through this modification rather than as a direct effect of Mn itself.
As not all species of plants are equally sensitive to modifications in the
lime-magnesia ratio, likewise the effect of Mn may be very different in
Different species of plants. In practice it has been found that the addition
of lime to manganiferous soils increases toxic power ; on the other hand,
the addition of soluble superphosphate counterbalances, in many cases, the
influence of Mn.
(Hawaii Forester Agr., 8, 176-8.) The Author assumes the toxic action of
Mn in Hawaii Mn soils is due to the action of Ca manganite primarily,
and to the secondary action of other salts and acids upon the Ca
inauganite.
J. HUDIG. (Landw. Jahrb., 40, 0)13-044.) In the peat settlement of Groningen
jand Dreut plant sickness is evident, especially oat sickness. The cause
is the organic matter of the soil. Though Mn in the sick soil is as large
as in the sound soil, the addition of Mn salts (MnSO4, MnO2) had a
beneficial effect on the soil, especially in its after-effects.
JAMES BURMANN. (Bull. Societ. China., 1911 (IV), 9, 957-959. D. amMgua
and D. luiea are indigenous to Switzerland, whilst D. purpurea can only
be grown in the garden, and does not reproduce itself. This seems to
be due to the fact that the two former do not require Mn, wrhilst the
third does. Digitalis leaves grown on soil derived from ferruginous grit
in Alsace gave 5 OS of ash, containing 9 02 per cent, of Mn. 0-80 per cent,
of Fe, whilst the grit itself contained 0 43 per cent, of Mn and 4-82 per
cent, of Fe. The presence of Mn in the ash serves to distinguish
D. purpurea from D. anibigua and D. lutca.
MASONI GIULIO.. (Staz Sper. Agr. Ital., 64, 85-112.) From the researches of
the Author it would appear that Fe cannot be displaced by Mn. MnSO4
in the soil is transformed into an insoluble compound (MnCo3).
(e) Influence of Manganese on " Aspergillus Niger.'*
G. BERTRAND. (Compt. Rend., 1912, 154, 381-383.) Taking the utmost
precautions to avoid the presence of traces of Mn, it is found that the
addition of a minute amount of Fe and Zn does not induce sporulation.
The addition of a trace of Mn salt, however, brings about profuse formation
of couidia, and the mycelium acquires a velvety black appearance. . . .
For sporulation the three metals must be present. Ferrous sulphate contains
Mn; the purest commercial specimen contains 0-2 to 0-5 milligram of Mn
per gram.
GABRIEL BERTRAND. (Compt. Rend., 1912, 154, 616-618.) By taking elaborate
precautions to secure an artificial culture medium free from Mn, the
Author has been able to show that very minute doses of Mn (one part in
10,000,000,000) have an appreciable effect in increasing the yield of
Aspergillus. Mn was separated in special way (described). Vessels of
quartz were employed.
Miscellaneous and unclassified.
Ashes of sugar-beet. E. O. v. LIPPMAN. (Ber. 21, 3492-3493.) The Author
found boric acid, vanadium, manganese, caesium, and copper in minute
quantities.
Presence of Boron, Lithium and Copper in plants. N. PASSERINI. (Staz. Sper.
Agr. Ital., 20, 471-476. Ash of tomatoes, chick-peas, Iris germanica.
Boron and lithium were nearly always found, copper also in tomatoes, and
in chick-peas, in the proportion of 0-082 per cent, of ash, and in Iris
germanica as much as 0022 per cent, of the ash.
Injurious action of Nickel on plants. E. HASELHOFF. .(Landw. Jahresb., 22,
862-867.) ... In order to ascertain the effect of Ni on plants, horse-
beans and maize were grown in nutritive solutions, to which NiSO4 was
j added (from 2-5 to 50 milligrams per litre). The smaller amount (2-5 per
thousand) was sufficient to kill the plant.
32 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Lime and Lupins. HEINRICH. (Bied. Centr., 1896, 26, 231-232.) The result
of the addition of 0-5 to 1-5 up to 10 per cent, of chalk to sandy soil,
showed even the smallest amount to be injurious to lupin. At the rate
of 1 per cent. CaSO4, reduced the crop by 50 por cent. Ca3P2O8, at the
rate of 0-5, appeared injurious. MgCO3, at the rate of 0-5 per cent, killed
the plant.
Selective absorption of certain elements by plants. E. DKMOUSSY. (Compt.
Rend., 1898, 127, 970-972.) The plants were grown in different solutions,
such as KNO3 and KC1, each containing two salts, Ca and K, Na and Ca,
K and Na. The plants exercised a selective action.
Barium in plant and soil. RICHARD HORNBERGER. (Lanclw. Versuch Stat., 1899,
91, 473-478.) The ash of different parts of the trunk wood of two copper
beeches, 100 years old, were found to contain from 0-97 to 1-20 and 0-57 to
0-90 per cent, of barita. The soil contained a small amount of BaO. (400
grammes extracted with hot I-IC1, 5 per cent., gave 9 milligrammes of
BaSO4. Ba was also found by Fore-hammer (Ann. Phys, Chim.. 1855 (i),
95, GO) in the ashes of beech, oak, and birch ; and by Boedecker and Eckard
(Annalen, 1850, 100, 244) in beech weed and in the sandstone near
Gottingen. It also occurs in the Nile mud (Knop Landw. Yersuchstat, 17,
Co), and in the wheat grown in the Nile Valley (Rworzack, ibid., 398).
The role of sodium in plants. M. STAHL SCHRODER. (Chem. Centr., 1899, ii,
693, from J. Lanclw., 47, 49-84.) . . . In accordance with Contejean
and Guittean's results, Na remained mainly in the lower parts of the
plants. Oats can assimilate large amounts of sodium without injury.
Plants containing Zinc. ERNEST FRICKE. (Chem. Centr., 1900, ii, 769, from
Zeit often tb. Chem., 6, 292.) On a meadow near Randsbeck, in Westphalia,
which is occasionally flooded by waste liquors containing Zinc, and on a
soil near Bockwiese and Lautenthal, which is known to contain zinc, a
cruciferous plant very similar to Ara&is Halleri has been found to flourish.
In both cases the plant contained zinc; and in the latter case the plant
substance free from water and sand yielded 1-3 per cent, of ash, which
contained 0-94 per cent. Zn.
Ivy as a calcareous plant. W. VON KLENKE. (Zeit. Landw. Versuch. Vv'est
Oester, 3, 629-630.) The air-dried wood of ivy yielded 2-57 per cent, of ash,
containing 31-09 per cent, of lime and 4-52 per cent, of MgO. Ivy is thus
undoubtedly a calcareous plant. It is not suitable for fodder, and is
almost free from parasites.
Mercurial poisoning of green plants. FRANZ W. DAFERT. (Zeit. Landw.
Versuchs. West Oesterr., 4, 1-9.) Plants grown under a jar over mercury
were killed by its vapour.
Pot experiments of the action of Nal, and NaBr and LiCl on crop. J.
AUGUSTUS VOELCKER. (Journ. Roy. Agric. Soe. England, 1900 (iii), 11,
566-591.) Nal, at the rate of 2 cwt. per acre, NaBr of 1 or 2 cwt.
per acre, LiCl at the rate of 5 cwt per acre, had injurious effects on
wrheat, barley, clover.
Presence of copper in plants, and the amount they contain. EDOUARD HECKEL.
(Bull. Soc. Botan. de France, 1899, 46, 42-43.) . . . Viola calaminaria
is said to contain considerable quantities of zinc, and the presence of the
plant usually indicates zinc in the soil.
Toxic action of the compounds of alkaline earth metals toward higher plants.
HENRI COUPIN. (Compt. Rend., 130, 791-793.) A study of the action of
Ca, Sr, Ba on wheat. With soluble homologous compounds the toxic effect
increases with the atomic weight ; the insoluble salts of these metals are all
innocuous. Soluble salts of Ca, Sr have marked toxic action. CaL, Sri are
very poisonous.
Occurrence of zinc in the vegetable kingdom. L. LABAND. (Zeit. Nahrung
Genussmitt, 1901, 4, 489-492.) The Author examined some plants grown
in the neighbourhood of Scharley, Upper Silesia, on soil containing zinc
and situated near, zinc mines. He found 0-252 of ZnO in 100 grams of dry
material.
Poisonous action of ferrocyauide of potassium on plants. S. SUZUCKI. (Bull.
Coll. Agric. Tokyo, Imp. Univ., 1902, 5, 203-205.) Pot. Ferrccyn. in solution
at 0-001 per thousand gradually destroyed barley plants.
RELATION OF FERTILISERS TO SOIL FERTILITY. 33
Action of SO2, ZnO, ZuSO4 on soils and plants. EMIL HASELHOFF. (Jahresb.
Lauclw. Versuch. Stat. Marburg, 1003-1004.) SO2 does not injure soils; ii:
is rapidly converted into H2SO4. ZnO (0-2 per cent.) has a slight effect on
wheat. ZnSO4 in the same proportion is found to be extremely injurious.
Can salts of Zn, Co, Ni, in high dilution, exert a stimulating action on agricul-
tural plants? M. NAKAMUKA. (Bull. Agric. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, 100-1, 6,
147-1512.) In experiments with Allium manured with ZnSO4, CoSO4, and
Co(XO3)=, 0-01 gram in 2 to 3 kilos of soil, a slightly stimulating effect was
observed in each case.
Pot culture experiments on MnL, MnO, K, Nat Li. JOHN A. VOELCKER. (Journ.
Roy. Agric. Soc. England, 1004, 65, 306-314.) Mn, K, Na, and Li are
injurious to wheat at the rate of 1 cwt. per acre.
Influence of Didyrniimi and Glucinum on plants. G. KANOMATA. (Bull. Coll.
Agric. Tokyo, 1008, 7, 637-640.) Barley was grown in pots containing 10
kilos of loamy soil, manured. Three pots received 0-01, 0-1, 0-5 grams of
didymium nitrate. The plant grown with 0-018 showed an increase in
total weight of 17 per cent., and in weight (42 per cent.), and number of
ears. Larger doses had bad effect. A similar stimulating effect was
observed when Didymium was applied to mustard, Rapliamis sat-ivus
radicula, and tobacco, at the rate of 1 per million of soil. The increase
in the last three experiments amounted to 13-7 per cent, with mustard, 27
per cent, with Raplianus, and 32-1 per cent, with tobacco. Glucinum
nitrate, at the rate of 10 per million of soil had no appreciable effect, whilst
larger amounts reduced the yield.
Barium in soils. G. II. FAILYEB. (U.S. Dep. Agric. Bureau of Soils, Bull., 72,
1010.) Ba occurs in most soils of the U.S., more near Ba deposits. . . .
Analysis of soils from Colorado and Kansas showed from 0-01 to 0-11 per
cent, of Ba. Ba was also found in various plants from Nebraska, Colorado,
and Kansas.
The action of Sr on alga?. OSCAR LOEW. (Flora, 1011, 102, 06-112.) Since
algae will live for some time in solutions of Sr salts, it may be supposed
that Sr does not displace any of the essential metallic elements, Ca, Mg,
&c., from their position in the protoplasm complex. Such injurious effect
as is produced is mainly on the chlorophyll bodies, which lose their power
of making starch, and their normal green colour, and finally die. CaCla
has no such action, even in 1 per cent, solution. . . . The Author
considers that the nuclei and the chloroplast of the higher alga? are
calcium compounds of nuclei proteins, because anything which precipitates
Ca, potassium oxalates of NaF2 has a strongly toxic effect.
Action of some hydrolysable salts, and of some colloids, on higher plants.
ACIIILLE GREGOIRE. (Bull. Soc. Chim. Beige, 1011, 25, 85-103.) The amount
of silica absorbed by barley growing in presence of silica, analcime, and
zeulandite, is large, amounting in case of SiO2 to 44 per cent, of the total
ash, whereas the control plant only contained 4-8 per cent. Analcime
produced a larger crop than silicic acid, though the ash only contained 13
per cent, of SiO2. So the 44 per cent, found in case of silica is apparently
in excess of that required for the maximum development of the barley
plant. It is considered that silica plays some essential part in the meta-
bolism of barley. The relatively greater fertilising action of ammonium
sulphate than sodium nitrate in the case of gramma? is attributed to the
acid salt rendering more silicic acid available.
Presence of gold in marine plants. A. LIVERSIDGE. (J.C.S. Trans., XXV, pp.
208-200.) Gold is present in minute quantities in some marine plants.
Manuring with rare elements. STOCKLASA. (Blatt. Zuckerruberbau, 18, 153.)
MnSO4, AL(SO4)3 added to a basal fertiliser, increased the yield of sugar-
beets from 30 to 50 per cent. Pb(NO3)2 in small quantities (1 per cent.)
had a favourable effect, but with increased quantities the yield decreased.
As2O3 or As;O5, up to 0-01 per cent., stimulates the growth; in larger
proportion it is toxic.
Influence of Rubidium salts on growth of plants. OSCAR LOEW. (U.S. Dep. Agr.
Bureau of Plant Industry, Bull., N. 45, 32.) Rubidium chloride exerts a
powerful stimulating action on the growth of plants, when added in doses
of 10 to 200 niilligraines to 1 kilo of soil in which all mineral nutrients
are present.
34 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 9.
Catalytic fertilisers and the culture of sugar-beets. G. BERTRAND. (Engrais,
26, 852-3, 883-5.) In the ash of sugar-beets 0-04 per cent, consists of oxides
of Fe, Mn, Al, B, Zn, Cs, and Rb, all in very small amounts. A catalytic
agent is necessary for the fixation of O in the plants. This is the role of
oxidases. On ashing the oxidase of the sugar-beet, an ash is obtained
which is relatively rich in Mn. The absorption of O varies with the contents
of Mn. Without the presence of Mn, laccase cannot function, and hence
this metal is necessary for the complete functioning of the plant. The Mn
to be available must exist in some soluble form, and must go into the soil
solutions. The addition of soluble B and Zn salts also give good results
with sugar-beets. The use of Mn and Zn together gave the most satisfactory
results, and shows that the use of catalytic fertilisers exerts a tremendous
influence on the growth of sugar-beet.
Influence of stannous chloride in fermentation. G. GIMEL. (CompL Rend.,
190S, 147, 1324-1230.) Kayser and others have found that Mn favours
alcoholic fermentation. The Author finds that SnCl2 has more marked
effect; a culture containing 1 part in 10,000 producing 4 per cent, more
alcohol than the culture of control.
Occurrence and role of Zinc in plants. MAURICE JAVILLIER. (Bull. Sclent.
Pharm., 1908, 15, 559-565.) Besides certain well-defined varieties growing
on soils which are rich in zinc, most plants contain appreciable quantities
of this metal, especially Conifers. Zinc can also act favourably on the
i growth of Phanerogams; for instance, cereals.
Sydney : William Applegate Gullick, Government Pi-inter. — 1913.
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