i6 Maine: agricultural experiment station. 1906. 



good natural surface drainage. The soil was rather light, and 

 unusually deep and yields 25 to 30 bushels of wheat to the acre. 

 The piece was plowed in the fall of 1904, harrowed, smoothed 

 and seeded with Turkestan alfalfa. It was planted in drills 14 

 inches apart so as to give the plants plenty of room, in the hope 

 that they could be used to grow seed. Two hand seed drills 

 were used. One of the machines was set too close so that only 

 every other row had a good stand. The poorly seeded rows 

 were reseeded in June. The piece was kept free from weeds by 

 the use of the hand wheel hoe and hand work. The piece was 

 cut once in the mid-summer of 1904. It went into the winter 

 good shape, and camt through the winter in fine condition. In 

 1905 this piece presented the same peculiarities found at Houlton 

 and referred to later. In some places it was dark green in color 

 and very vigorous, and at cutting (July 21, 1:905) was 3 feet 

 high. In other places the alfalfa plants were short and yellow. 

 Because of the very uneven growth this experiment has been 

 abandoned. 



At Houlton. 



This experiment includes two and a half acres of land on the 

 farm of Mr. John Watson. The land slopes to the south and 

 east, and yielded over 100 barrels of potatoes to the acre in 1903. 

 Judging from the yield of potatoes the soil is quite uniformly 

 productive. The whole field was fertilized with a high grade 

 commercial fertilizer. One-half of the field was limed at the 

 rate of one ton per acre, and one-fourth of the field was liberally 

 dressed with hardwood ashes. The four plots were arranged 

 so as to have lime, ashes, and no alkali on each plot. Plots i 

 and 2 were seeded in May, 1904, and plots 3 and 4 in August of 

 that year. Plots i and 4 were sown broadcast with a Massey 

 seeder; plots 2 and 3 were drilled with a hand seeder in drills 

 14 inches apart. Plots 3 and 4 were harrowed frequently with 

 a disc harrow up to the time of seeding in August. On the 

 drilled part the weeds were kept down by the use of the hand 

 wheel hoe and hand weeding. On the broadcast plots the weeds 

 were kept down by mowing. Plot 2 was mown in July. The 

 spring sown plots made a good growth, and went into the winter 

 in good condition. Plots 3 and 4 were so late sown that the 

 plants made but little growth before cold weather. 



