BULLETIN NO. 188. THE RELATION OF SULFUR TO SOIL FERTILIT Y. BY O. M. SHEDD. HISTORICAL. Numerous experiments have been made in the last few years in determining the importance of sulfur compounds in plant ‘ growth and their value in soil fertility. In a former publi— cation] the writer gave a resume of the experiments that have been made along this line and more recent ones are in- cluded here in order to show the present status of this subject. Chancrin and Desriotg report some further experiments on the effect of adding sulfur to potatoes and beets. The re- sults show that applications of 178 to 356 pounds per acre gave increases in the yield of both crops Tritschler°‘ has found in experiments with mangel— wurzels that the use of sulfur slightly increased the yield and sugar content but this is attributed not so much to the fer- ` tilizing action of the sulfur as to its protection of the crop from insects and disease. Lierkel cites observations on fruits which indicate that fertilizing materials containing considerable amounts of sul- fates produce better results than those free from such com- pounds. Vermorel and Dantony*’ have grown wheat and kidney · beans in paraffined pots, the soil in which was freed f`rom organic matter. With nitrogen as nitrates. neither sulfur (Sim)