354 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



tion of tlie soil has become such that but little more can be learned 

 from the effect of fertilizers upon it." He also says that what with 

 the bad season, a destructive hail-storm, and the long-continued 

 planting, the yield was an entire failure. The plants were all 

 very small, and none but Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 9, had ears enough 

 to be worth husking. Indeed, so poor was the quality of the 

 corn, even on these plots, that the calculations which are based 

 upon the weight of ears, are hardly accurate. Mr. Bartholomew 

 suggests that it will hardly be worth while to publish any account 

 of the experiment the past season, since that it was a failure. I 

 take the liberty, however, to give the above statements, because 

 they seem to me both interesting and valuable. The land has 

 refused to produce corn in good quantities for a number of years 

 in succession with any of the fertilizers used. This is worthy of 

 record, especially, in view of the fact that on another part of the 

 same field corn and potatoes are being cultivated continuously 

 with different fertilizers. Again the main feature of the story of 

 the first year is that of the fifth; without phosphoric acid failure, 

 with it a larger or smaller yield, as more or less is used, and very 

 little help from potash or nitrogen. But there is this addition 

 that phosphoric acid alone is unable to carry the crop year after 

 year. 



Indeed, the statements made in former reports of these and the 

 other experiments made by Mr. Bartholomew (See Report of Conn. 

 Board of Agriculture, 1880, pp. 355, 357), might be repeated 

 with perfect correctness here. I quote, however, only the fol- 

 lowing : 



"And in all of the scores of trials which Mr. Bartholomew has 

 made in amplification of these experiments, the same results have 

 been obtained; corn has responded largely to phosphoric acid, 

 less to nitrogen, and scarcely at all to potash. I cannot forbear 

 repeating that Mr. Bartholomew has uniformly got the best results 

 by using a moderate dressing of farm manures, supplemented by 

 superphosphates. Indeed, in his case, as in many others, the 

 proper use of commercial fertilizers is to supplement the farm 

 manures. But it should be remembered, that while nitrogen and 

 the potash have produced so little effect on corn, on potatoes they 

 have been as uniformly useful and profitable." 



Some time since, in writing to Mr. Bartholomew concerning 

 some of the details of his reports, I took occasion to ask if he 

 would state in what ways, and to what extent the large amount of 



