38 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 1902 



EFFECTS OF THE PLOUGHING UNDER OF GREEN CLOVER AS A 



FERTILIZER FOR POTATOES. 



In the spring of 1900, six plots of one-eightieth of an acre each were sown with 

 grain. Two were sown with Preston wheat, two with Mensury barley, and two with 

 Banner oats. One plot in each case had common red clover sown with the grain at the 

 rate of 12 pounds per acre, the other had no clover. These plots were adjoining those 

 of a similar test with oats and Indian corn, and the soil was of the same character and 

 had received the same preparation. After the grain was harvested in 1900, the clover 

 was allowed to grow until the following season, and was ploughed under about the 

 middle of May, by which time it had made a very heavy growth. The variety of potato 

 chosen for this test was the Everett, which was planted on May 23, in rows 3 feet apart, 

 and dug October 4. The results were as follows : — 



Variety Everett. 



Everett potato planted after, 



Preston wheat, no clover 



Preston wheat, with clover. . . 



Mensury barley, no clover 



Mensury barley, with clover . . 



Banner oats, no clover 



Banner oats, with clover 



Yield 

 per acre. 



Bush. Lbs . 



396 40 



440 



396 



420 



381 20 



411 20 



The average gain of potatoes on the plots where the clover was grown, was 32 

 bushels 27 pounds per acre, being an increase of over 8 per cent. 



EFFECTS OF FERTILIZERS ON SPRING WHEAT, OATS, CLOVER AND 



BROME GRASS. 



During the season of 1900, two series consisting in each case of sixteen one-eight- 

 ieth acre plots were laid out, twelve of which in each set were treated with different 

 fertilizers, and the remaining four left as check plots which received no fertilizers. 



One set of these plots was sown with spring wheat of the variety known as Preston, 

 another with a variety of oats known as Improved Ligowo. Two other series each 

 consisting of nine plots were planned, one to be used for experiments with common 

 red clover, and the other for the Awnless Brome grass Bromus inermis. 



The object in view in these tests is to gain information as to the effects on crops 

 sown on land in a fair average condition of fertility, of superphosphate of lime and 

 Thomas' phosphate, both used singly, also of superphosphate of lime with kainit and 

 with kainit and nitrate of soda, and of Thomas phosphate with kainit, and with kainit 

 and nitrate of soda. In the series of plots planned for wheat and oats, provision was 

 also made for testing the relative value of barn-yard manure fresh and rotted, fresh 

 slaked lime and nitrate of soda alone in the proportions of 100 and 200 pounds per acre 

 with a check plot between them. In 1900 all these were reported on, but this year 

 through a misunderstanding the last five plots in each of these series were not sown, 

 hence returns can only be given for nine plots in each case. 



The land chosen for this test was in a fairly good condition of tilth. The soil was 

 a sandy loam which has been under cultivation since 1887, and has been cropped each 

 year since, with a suitable rotation of crops and has received a dressing of barn-yard 

 manure about once in four years. The last application of manure was in 1897 when 

 it received about 12 tons per acre. The land was cropped in 1899 with experimental 

 grain in plots mostly barley. 



