The hot-water soluble B content of salt-affected chernozemic soils of southeastern Saskatchewan, determined colorimetrically with quinalizarin, was found to range from 0.1 to 2.0 ppm. Wheat and alfalfa were grown in the greenhouse on six different soils with three added levels of B. The mean B content of wheat ranged from 1.4 to 30.5 ppm., and that of alfalfa from 49.4 to 69.3 ppm. No toxicity symptoms were observed; on the contrary, the first level of added B tended to increase the dry matter yield of alfalfa on three soils. In a 3⁴ factorial experiment, alfalfa and wheat were grown in the greenhouse on a saline soil with three levels of B, Ca, Mg, and Na. The dry matter yield of both crops decreased linearly with the application of 200 and 400 ppm. of Mg as MgSO₄. Increased Na levels decreased the B content of wheat and the dry matter yield of alfalfa. Added Ca and Mg had no statistically significant effect on the B content of either wheat or alfalfa. The correlation between the B content of wheat and hot-water soluble soil B content was highly significant (r = 0.689), but no such correlation was evident for alfalfa. In the case of wheat, the correlation appeared to be valid only for a specific soil type.

SynopsisHighest yields of wheat were obtained on fallow land. The next best place to grow wheat in the sequence was following either flax or corn. Lowest yields of wheat were obtained when it was grown following oats, barley or rye. Manure increased yields of all crops in the year applied and produced a residual effect on yield and on the level of easily extractable phosphorus.

The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübn.), has been reared satisfactorily on a meridic diet containing no crude plant material. Ascorbic acid has been shown to be a necessary component of this diet for normal development of the larvae. Evidence is presented of the identity of the corn leaf factor (CLF), contained in spray-dried alfalfa juice, with ascorbic acid. The larvae grew better on a wheat germ supplemented diet than on the diets in which wheat germ was replaced with powdered cellulose, vitamin-free casein and corn oil or wheat germ oil. These data suggested that another factor, present in wheat germ, was required for optimal larval growth.

Four methods of wheat stubble management (burn and plow, plow, one-way disk, and subsurface-till) in an alternate wheat-fallow system on a Chernozem soil were studied for 12 years. Plots were split, with one-half of each plot receiving N fertilizer. Twelve years of subsurface-tilling or one-way disking substantially increased the geometric mean diameter of water-stable aggregrates and decreased the bulk density of the surface soil as compared with plowing or burning and plowing. The ratio of water entry, 10 minutes to 120 minutes, was substantially lower in wheat plots that had been subsurface-tilled or plowed than where the plots had been burned and plowed or one-way disked. Application of N fertilizer did not affect the physical properties measured.