S The Bulletin 



Work Reported. 



Corn is our leading crop from the standpoint of acreage grown 'each 

 vear. Some commercial fertilizers are used in fertilizing and growing 

 this crop. It responds readily and is moderately profitable under a 

 proper system of fertilization. Some thirteen years ago systematic 

 experiments were started to determine the fertilizer or plant food re- 

 quirements for the most economical production of corn on the different 

 soils of the State. 



On the following pages are recorded the results of seven years' ferti- 

 lizer and variety tests of corn at the Department Test Farm in Edge- 

 combe County, extending through the years 1903-1909, inclusive. The 

 work is being continued in order to collect further data when corn is 

 grown as it has been in the work here recorded, as well as when 

 it has been grown in rotation with other staple and soil-improving 



crops. 



Location or Farm and Character of Soil. 



The Edgecombe Test Farm is located near the center of Edgecombe 

 County, on the main road between Tarboro and Rocky Mount and is 

 approximately eight miles from either place. It is two miles south of 

 Kingsboro Station, on the Atlantic Coast Line Railway. 



The main upland soil of this farm is representative of much of the 

 Coastal Plain Section of the State. It consists of a dark gray sandy 

 to a fine sandy loam, eight to twelve inches deep, underlain by a yellow 

 sandy clay subsoil. The surface soil is light in texture, and is com- 

 monly very deficient in organic matter. It classifies as Norfolk sandy to 

 fine sandy loam. Like most of the sandy soils of the Coastal Plain, 

 the sand content is mostly silica (quartz sand) which contains no im- 

 portant plant food. The chemical analysis of this type of land shows 

 it to be universally deficient in nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and, in 

 the southeastern part of the State, deficient in potash. The potash con- 

 tent is much higher in the northern part of the Coastal Plain Section ; 

 especially is this true northeast of Albemarle Sound. The soil of Edge- 

 combe Test Farm is between these two extremes, approaching the low 

 rather than the high potash content. Consequently we could hardly 

 expect an increase from the use of potash to be as great when used on 

 this character of soil in the counties to the north of Edgecombe, but in 

 those to the south, its use should be accompanied with larger increase 

 and greater profit. These light sandy soils are also deficient in lime. 

 This deficiency is noticeable in the growing of legume crops. Bacteri- 

 ological investigations show this soil to be very low in beneficial bac- 

 terial life. 



The following figures, Avhich are averages for several samples taken 

 on the Edgecombe Farm, show the chemical composition of the soil. 



