EXPERIMENTAL FARMING. H-j 



acid iilono ; to the third plot, a fertiliziLT furnishing potash alone ; to 

 the fourth plot, a fertilizer furnishing nitrogen alone ; to the fifth 

 plot, a fertilizer furnishing phosphoric acid and potash ; to the sixth 

 plot, one furnishing phosphoric ticid and nitrogen ; to the seventh 

 plot, one furnishing potash and nitrogen ; to the eighth, one fur- 

 nishing phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen ; to the ninth plot, 

 stable manure; the tenth plot being left without manure. Then 

 plant ail the plots to the same crop, and when the crop has come to 

 maturity, harvest each plot separate and measure the produce. 



By carrying such an experiment through, we have asked all the 

 questions possible, of the soil, in so far as its infertility depends on 

 the deficiency of one or more of the three plant foods mentioned. 

 In the crops produced on these plots, we have the ansAver. The 

 plots left without manure are for comparison, by which to determine 

 the effect of each fertilizer. 



Tlie season is sometimes such that the crop does not get the full 

 effect of the manure, and in order that the failure of a crop in such 

 a season may not be ascribed to anything but its true cause, one 

 plot should be fertilized with stable manure with which to compare 

 results. 



In 1877, Professor W. 0. Atwater of Wesley an University, con- 

 ceived of the idea of carrying out a series of experiments of this 

 character among the farmers of the country at large. Prof. Atwater 

 sa^'s, in one of his reports of farm experiments, that " the osten- 

 sible object of these experiments was to work on farmers' soils. 

 Underneath this lay, in m}- own thought, a deeper purpose, to work 

 upon their owners' minds." Through the cooperation of some New 

 York fertilizer dealers, he was enabled to place before the farmers a 

 set of experimental fertilizers for soil testing, at a price barelj' 



