Lysimeter Experiments 



13 



Manure and fertilizers used 



Farm manure was applied twice to the soil in each of the twelve tanks, 

 the implanted soil receiving the same treatment as the cropped. Each 

 appUcation was at the rate of ten tons to the acre. The first appHcation 

 was made in the spring of 1910, before the first crop was planted, and 

 the second in the spring of 1914. The analyses of the manm-e are given 

 in table 4: 



TABLE 4. Composition of Farm Manure Applied to the Soil in 



Tanks 1 to 12 



Constituents 



Dry matter 



Nitrogen 



Phosphoric anhydride . 



Sulfur trioxide 



Potassium oxide 



Calcium oxide 



Magnesium oxide .... 



Manure applied in 1910 



Percentage 

 composition 



76.72 

 0.61 

 0.41 



0.77 

 0.48 



Pounds 

 per acre 



15,344 

 122 



82 



154 

 96 



Manure applied in 1914 



Percentage 

 composition 



77.44 

 0.42 

 0.24 

 0.19 

 0.45 

 0.64 

 0.22 



Poimds 

 per acre 



15,488 

 84 

 48 

 38 

 90 

 128 

 44 



The sulfate of potash appHed annually to tanks 11 and 12 during the 

 3^ears 1910 to 1912 contained 51.63 per cent of KoO, and that applied 

 in 1913 and 1914 contained 51.42 per cent of K2O, 



The burnt lime, of which only one application was made, contained 

 91.95 per cent of CaO and a trace only of MgO. 



Soil treatment and cro'p'ping systems 



As previously stated, the tanks were all filled with soil in the summer 

 of 1909. This operation occupied most of the summer, and no tanks 

 were planted that year except tank 1, wliich was filled at a sufficiently 

 early date to permit of its being so used. Tank 2, which was fiUed at 

 the same time as tank 1, was kept bare and the drainage water from 

 these two tanks was collected. The use of these tanks was started a year 

 in advance of the others in order to test the practicabihty of the apparatus. 

 It was not known whether such a large mass of very compact soil would 

 allow the rainfall to percolate readily, and it was also desired to take 



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