76 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tlu' rt'sulls of a single year's experiments of this nature is never con- 

 clusive enough to warrant the drawing of delinite conclusions. Fur- 

 thermore, the extreme drought of the summer of 18D9 may have been 

 the cause of the disappointments which followed the applications of 

 fertilizers in some localities. The results, however, of this experiment 

 are published in bulletin form, and some of the experiments are con- 

 tinued for another year. I take this occasion to thank the gentlemen 

 who kindly conducted these experiments, and though all the experiments 

 are not being continued it is generally the fault of the land, the location, 

 or lack of time and funds that necessitated our dropping some of them 

 this year. 



Tliese soil test experiments are being continued by Mr. L. B. Walton, 

 Dryden, Lapeer county; Bruce Phillips, Utica, Macomb county; Glen C 

 Lawrence, Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county; A. E. Gregory, Dowagiac, Cass 

 county; H. M. Kingsley, Kendall, Van Buren county; the Parmelee 

 Farm, opposite the College grounds, Ingham count}'; and on the College 

 farm. 



SOIL TEST ON MUCK LAND. 



The experiments on muck land in field 13 were carried through the 

 season of 1899, using leached ashes, ordinary sand, air slaked lime, com- 

 mercial and home mixed fertilizers, stable manure, wood asheSj and 

 fertilizers, alone and in (ombination, to provide a test similar to that 

 conducted on the uplands. The crops sown on this experiment included 

 nearly all the annuals that would naturally be sown on this kind of soil. 

 The results were as a rule very uniform, the largest yields generally 

 being on the plots receiving stable manure. Very satisfactory results 

 were obtained from applications of wood ashes, and otlier materials in 

 which the mineral elements played a prominent part. Indeed, the 

 leached ashes gave very satisfactory results in some cases, while the 

 application of sand from the College gravel pit gave material increase in 

 yield over the unfertilized plots. Tlioroughly rolling the ground gave 

 yields nearly as good as where liberal applications of commercial ferti- 

 lizers were made. The importance of work in connection with muck 

 land led to the inauguration of three experiments on portions of some 

 of the large muck areas of the State. These experiments were begun 

 this spring and are being conducted by Mr, C. R. Ferguson, Almont, 

 Lapeer county, Mich.; Mr. A. M. Todd. Pearle, Allegan county, Mich., 

 and by the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, Kalamazoo, Mich., on some 

 of the Kalamazoo celery soil. These new experiments, occupying about 

 thirty-three 1-20 acre plots, are receiving wood ashes, leached and un- 

 leached, air slaked lime, in varying quantities from two to four tons 

 per acre and in combination with stable manure, commercial fertilizers 

 and mixed manures. There are also plots devoted to salt, land plaster, 

 and nitrate of soda, dissolved phosphate rock, potash salt in various 

 combinations. Several nothing plots are inserted as checks, one of 

 which is being thoroughly rolled to note the effect of packing this kind 

 of soil. The crops sown are sugar beets, corn, onions, potatoes, mint, 

 oats, carrots, and a few other roots and annual crops. 



TESTING VARIETIES. 



Varieties of wheat, corn, oats and clover have been tested the past 

 vear, the results of which will appear in bulletin form. The limited 



