228 Bulletin 237. 



a rather stiff soil underlaid by clay. The Bureau of Soils of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture has classified this soil as the Dunkirk clay 

 loam. Judged both by the experience of the College in trying to grow 

 alfalfa here, and from theoretical considerations as to its soil require- 

 ments, this land is not favorable to the crop. It is, however, similar to 

 much land in the State on which farmers would like to produce alfalfa. 

 It was decided, therefore, to begin in the spring of 1904 experiments on 

 this land with a view of determining what treatment, if any, v.'ill result 

 in success upon lands known to be naturally unsuited to alfalfa. These 

 investigations are being made under the direction of Professor Thomas 

 F. Hunt by John W. Gilmore and Samuel Fraser. 



The tract on which these experiments are being conducted has come 

 only recently into the possession of Cornell University. The former 

 management had been such as to reduce somewdiat, though not seriously, 

 its crop-producing power. The soil is tenacious and is difficult to work 

 except when moisture conditions are just right. It is usually difficult to 

 get upon this land early in the spring, and early fall rains may prevent 

 fall seeding. It is well adapted to the growth of timothy; and fairly 

 well adapted to the production of wdieat. when properly fertilized ; and 

 is less valuable for the production of corn and potatoes. 



I. Lessons from the ipo-f Seeding 



This land had been in corn in 1902 and in oats in 1903. The oats 

 were removed and the land plowed August 23-25 and fitted on September 

 13 for wheat. Early fall rains prevented the seeding of the wheat on 

 this tenacious clay soil and it was later decided to devote part of the area 

 to experiments wnth alfalfa. On May 6, 1904, this land was harrowed 

 and ground unslaked lime was applied to the north half of the plats from 

 the fertilizer distributor of the grain drill at the rate of 1,000 pounds 

 per acre. The drill was driven over the south half of the plats to secure 

 an equal amount of tillage on all plats. The seeding was done ]\Iay 7 

 at the rate of 25 pounds per acre. 



The plats are 84.88 feet long and 25.67 feet wide and contain one- 

 twentieth acre each. This width is used in much of our plat work because 

 it is the distance covered by four courses of our grain drill. 



Ten of these plats are devoted to the alfalfa experiment, — every 

 third plat being used as a check and receiving no special treatment except 

 the lime on its north half. The scheme was as follows: 



Plat No. 741. Nothing. 



742. Stable manure, 20 tons per acre. 



743. Soil, 400 pounds per acre from an old alfalfa field. 



744. Nothing. 



