;J0 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



EXCERPT FROM BULLETIN 123 OF THE VERMONT 

 EXPERIMENT STATION. 



VL THE moisture: RELATIONS OI^ SOIL. 



The settled policy of the Station in regard to its fertilizer 

 publications as outlined on page 141 of this issue, is yearly to 

 make a feature of a discussion of some special topic. The state- 

 ments bearing on this matter wherein provision is made for the 

 dissemination of "information" in addition to the simple pub- 

 lication of analytical results, call for "information in relation to" 

 the "character, composition, value and use" of fertilizers. Dur- 

 ing the past four years a fairly complete survey of matters in 

 close "relation to" the purchase and use of fertilizers by Ver- 

 mont farmers has been made. Analyses have been printed, com- 

 parisons with guaranties instituted, and the relationship of the 

 selling price to the money value of the plant food contents of 

 the various grades discussed ; valuations, guaranties and their 

 meaning, brand names and their lack of meaning, and the nature, 

 sources and functions of the deficient elements of plant food have 

 been considered ; a classification of the brands of fertilizers sold 

 in the State has been made ; the character, composition, applica- 

 tion and use of farm manures have been reviewed ; the systems 

 and methods which prevail in the use of plant food have been out- 

 lined, and suggestions offered as to amounts and kinds for the 

 sundry Vermont soils and crops in the hope that it might serve 

 as an aid in placing Vermont farm practice in this respect upon 

 a higher plane and a more rational basis. While it is necessary 

 yearly to make and to print analyses and to comment thereon, 

 and advisable to discuss the financial phase of the proposition, 

 the special features of bulletins 93, 99, 108 and 116 do not need 

 repetition, at present at any rate, since these bulletins have been 

 widely distributed and are still available on demand. The more 

 obvious and immediate matter "in relation to" fertilization hav- 

 ing been covered, it now seems fitting to review such as are less 

 closely connected therewith, yet bear upon the adequate use of 

 that popular commodity, the commercial fertilizer, to pass from 

 the consideration of artificial means of soil betterment to that 

 of natural ones. 



