FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN ON THE SANDY LOAM 

 SOILS (NORFOLK SANDY LOAMS) OF THE COASTAL PLAIN 



Being a Report of Work with Corn on the Edgecombe Test Farm in 



1903-1909, Inclusive 



By B. W. Kilgore, C. B. Williams and R. W. Scott, Jr. 



GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF FERTILIZER 



TESTS. 



1. The right fertilization of coni may pay fairly well on the sandy 

 loam soils of the State. What this fertilization should be on this and 

 similar soils is indicated by the results of experiments given on the 

 following pages. 



2. In the production of corn on this land with only two constituents 

 used, nitrogen combined with phosphoric acid afforded the largest net 

 returns per acre, while a mixture of potash and phosphoric acid gave 

 the smallest profit. The use of phosphoric acid and nitrogen averaged 

 a profit of $2.34 per acre more than did the phosphoric acid and potash. 



The experiments, as a whole, show nitrogen to be the dominant or 

 controlling constituent of plant food for increasing yields and for add- 

 ing the greatest profit per acre in growing com on this type of soil. 



3. The average results show that lime, whether used alone or in com- 

 bination with nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, was at a slight gain 

 when corn and stover are both considered. On a whole, the indications 

 are that lime will prove beneficial on this soil, if used properly for this 

 crop ; especially so when large amounts of organic matter are present or 

 are added to the soil. 



4. The amount of nitrogen in the normal fertilizer (300 pounds per 

 acre) applied in the corn experiments was 3 per cent or 9 pounds to the 

 acre. This amount was varied so as to give 41/2, 9, 18, and 27 pounds 

 of nitrogen per acre. The results emphasize the importance of nitro- 

 gen for the production of com on this soil, when applied in connection 

 with a fair amount of phosphoric acid and some potash. The larger 

 the amount of nitrogen used the greater the yield and the larger 

 the profit. Eighteen pounds of nitrogen would be supplied by 138.4 

 pounds of 13 per cent dried blood. The average yield of corn dur- 

 ing seven years on the plats, receiving three times the normal quan- 

 tity of nitrogen and normal quantities of phosphoric acid and potash 

 CN-y P K), was 37.5 bushels of com and 2,378 pounds of stover per 

 acre, and the average increase over unfertilized plats, 14.2 bushels of 

 com and 552 pounds of stover per acre. This fertilizer application cost 



