852 



BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



[Jan., 



The plan of each of the three gentlemen is to apply the same 

 fertilizers on the same plots year after year. But while Mr. Bar- 

 tholomew is repeating the same crops, corn and potatoes, on the 

 same plots, Mr. Fairchild has already commenced, and Mr. New- 

 ton proposes, a rotation. Mr. Fairchild's rotation is one which he 

 has found advantageous in his farm practice: the first year corn, 

 the second, potatoes or oats, in this case oats on one half and 

 potatoes on the other half of the experimental field, with wheat 

 sowed in the fall to make the crop of the third year, to be fol- 

 lowed the fourth year by grass and clover seeded with the wheat. 

 In the following years he proposes to see how long the grass can 

 be kept up with the artificial fertilizers. I believe that Mr. New- 

 ton expects to follow a somewhat similar plan of rotation. 



MR. Bartholomew's experiments. 



The most interesting feature of Mr. Bartholomew's corn exper- 

 iments is the constant efficiency of phosphoric acid and the uni- 

 form failure of the nitrogen and potash to materially increase the 

 yield. With potatoes, on the other hand, although phosphoric 

 acid is more efficient than anything else, still nitrogen and potash 

 are also decidedly helpful. 



I wish here to call attention to another experiment, by Mr. Bar- 

 tholomew, with corn, commenced in 1877, and continued until 

 the present. The plots were ten square rods each. The fertiliz- 

 ing materials have been: 



Fertilizers. 



KIND. 



Dried Blood 



Di8!^olved Bone black. 



Muriate of Potasli 



Dried Blood 



DisBcilved Bone-black. 

 I Dried Blood 



Dissolved Bone black. 

 ; Muriate of Potash 



Pla!>ter 



Lbs. 



per 



Acre. 



.320 



.320 



320 



KiO 



160 



106? 



liiol 



10(j§ 



32U 



At 

 price 



per 

 ton. 



Cost 



per 



Acre. 



$40.00 $6.40 

 35.00 5.(10 

 45.00, 7.20 



37.50' 6.00 



40.00 6.40 

 lO.OO! 1.60 



Furnishing Valuable Ingredients. 



KIND. 



Nitrogen 



Phosphoric Acid 



Potash 



( Nitrogen 



I Phosphoric Acid 



i Nitrogen 



{ Phosphoric Acid 

 (Potash 



Cost 



per 



Acre. 



$6.40 

 5.60 

 7.20 

 3.20 

 2.85 

 2.13 

 1.87 

 2.40 



Wood ashes, dry and leached, and farm manures, were likewise 

 employed, as indicated below. ' A number of brands of manu- 

 factured fertilizers were also tried, with results according with 

 those from the regular experimental fertilizers. 



