EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. ' 83 



will be set forth the characteristics of the dozen or more different species 

 of vetches so that when the farmer wants to get one especially adapted to 

 the production of forage he will know which species to buy. 



Cow peas are not new to Michigan but the farmers are not yet advised 

 as to which sort to select or which method to adopt in growing them. 

 These matters are being investigated on a large scale by the Station. 

 Similar lines of work are going forward in relation to soy beans. It is 

 a question whether the other newer legumes related to the lathyrus on 

 the one hand or to astragalus and san foin on the other will ever be* 

 important items in a Michigan rotation. 



IV. The work with cereals was practically ruined by sparrows. Prof- 

 fessor Jeffrey has succeeded in developing oats of superior merit by 

 selecting individual plants to get productivity, A similar line of work 

 was undertaken with wheat by the Experiment Station, when, unfortu- 

 nately, the sparrows discovered the superior merits of the wheat growing 

 on the Station plots and harvested the crop without leaving a record of 

 the yields. In 1903 the sparrows have not waited for the crop to mature 

 but foreclosed their claims while the grain is still in the milk. This pest 

 of English sparrows has rendered impossible the carrying forward of 

 experiments with wheat and that line of work is temporarily abandoned. 



With oats the question considered related to the date of sowing. The 

 results are reserved to compile with those of the present year. Corn and 

 legumes were planted together to compare the value of cow peas, soy 

 beans and two sorts of field beans, viz.: the Southern Prolific and Red 

 Speckled. The results indicate that either of the varieties of field beans 

 were better for planting with corn than the cow peas or soy beans. The 

 Experiment Station of Illinois kindly donated to this Station seed corn, 

 lialf of it high in protein, the other half low in protein. The season of 

 1902 was adverse to corn growing and neither sort matured. 



V. The experiments on muck were continued, the results emphasizing 

 the conclusion already published in regard to the best fertilizer for that 

 class of soils. Nothing approaches barnyard manure as a fertilizer for 

 muck lands ; the potash fertilizers are all good and show beneficial results 

 but barnyard manure is incomparably superior and the plots receiving it 

 can be easily noted by the greater yield and more luxuriant growth. This 

 is true of all classes of plants whether legumes, cereals or other crops. 



VI. Sugar Beets: Besides experiments carried forward in cooperation 

 with the Department of Agriculture in sugar beets the Station has per- 

 formed some experiments of its own of considerable importance to the 

 State. In the first place, the work with beets and other crops testing 

 the influence of three successive crops of beets on the same field is inter- 

 esting. Through the center of a certain field a strip was planted to beets 

 for three years and in 1902 the whole field was planted to oats, corn and 

 beets, in strips crossing the area which had been planted to beets for 

 three years. It was shown that this successive use of the beet crop had 

 seriously impaired the ability of the soil to grow either beets or other 

 crops. The per cent of damage of course cannot be estimated but the fact 

 of serious injury is an important element in that experiment. In the 

 second place an interesting result of another line of work was the indica- 

 tion that 20 inches to 22 inches apart of rows yields as large an amount 

 of beets and as rich beets as 16 or 18 inches apart. Variety tests in 

 sugar beets have not resulted in great good because the plots have been 



