Rural School Leaflet 1405 



graduate, not of the high school, but of the training class, which she en- 

 tered on eighteen academic counts. 



The experiment club was organized in the early spring. It was decided 

 to have a portion of the school grounds plowed for the work of this club, 

 and one of the residents of the district offered to do this. The children 

 did all of the rem.aining work. 



The plat was divided crosswise into four equal parts. The first part was 

 treated with a dressing of nitrogen, the second with phosphoric acid, the 

 third with potash, and the fourth with a mixture comprised of equal parts 

 of these three fertilizers. The plat was then di\'ided lengthwise into three 

 equal parts. The first part was planted to soy beans, the second to com, 

 and the third to potatoes. In planting the potatoes, each seed potato 

 was cut into four parts, and each part was planted in a separate hiU. 

 The three crops were cidtivated and kept free from weeds. A wire fence 

 was built around the plat to keci3 out stray cattle. 



The soy beans proved to be a failure, but the com and the potatoes did 

 well. When the corn was ready to har\'est, the pupils concluded that the 

 grotmd treated with nitrogen grew the largest stalks, that treated with 

 phosphoric acid the most m.ature ears, that treated with potash a complete 

 failure, and that treated with the mixture a little better crop than that 

 treated with potash, but not so good as with the nitrogen or the phos- 

 phoric acid. It was decided that, on this groimd, if ensilage was desired, 

 nitrogen should be used, that if well-matured ears were desired, phos- 

 phoric acid should be applied. 



When the potatoes were har\'ested, the four hiUs from the same seed 

 potato were piled together, and the best piles saved for seed. The pupils 

 concluded that the potash treatment produced the best yield, while the 

 mixture produced the next best yield. The nitrogen treatment produced 

 rank ^'ines, but poor yield. 



Unfortunately there was no untreated check plat. The plat of ground 

 at the disposal of the school was too small to be divided into five parts. 

 It is hoped that in the future more land can be secured. 



After all crops were harvested, a cover crop of rye and winter vetch was 

 sown. In the spring this will be plowed under; one-half of the plat will 

 be treated with lime, lea\4ng one-half as a check; then oats and grass 

 seed consisting mainly of clovers will be sown on the whole plat. 



I do not consider that the outcome of these experiments is important; 

 however, I do consider that the interest in rural problems engendered in 

 both teacher and pupils is of great importance. I hope that District No. 4, 

 Davenport, has blazed a trail that all the districts in the Fifth Supervisory 

 District of Delaware County will follow. The teacher. Miss Blanche 

 Burdick, and the pupils will see to it that all other districts will be at least 



