102 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



oxjx'i-iment; other farm work often claims th(^ attention of all the help 

 when the experimental plot is most in need of a little attention. 



The Agriculturist visited Mr. A. E, Gregory's field, near Dowagiac, 

 in September, only to find that practically nothing had been done there 

 since the seeds were planted. All hope of securing any results of value 

 was at once dispelled and the experiment abandoned. 



Mr. H. M. Kingsley's experiment, at Kendall, Van Buren county, was, 

 in 1900, conducted on a new piece of land of a sandy loam nature. The 

 entire area was sown to sugar beets and throughout the conduct of 

 the experiment, from the preparation of the soil to the weighing of the 

 crop it was conducted in the most careful and painstaking manner. 



Below is a table showing the complete results. The area of the plots 

 was 1-10 acre each, being IG rods long, east and west, and one rod 

 wide, with 3-ft. paths between. The beets were sown in drills two feet 

 apart, lengthwise of the plots and the paths sown to carrots. 



H. M. Kingsley Experiment. Kendall, Van Btaen County. 



e 



a 



7 

 8 



9 



10 



Fertilizer applied. 



Nitrate of Soda 



Dissolved Phosphate Rock 



Muriate of Potash 



Nothing 



Xitnite of soda, 120 



Dissolved Phosphate Rock, 240. 



Nitrate of Soda, 120 



Muriate of Potash, 120 



Dissolved Phosphate Uock, 240 . 



Muriate of Potash, 120 



Nothing 



Nitrate of Soda, 120 



Dissolved Phosphate Rock, 240. 



Muriate of Potash, 120 



Air-Slaked Lime 



Pounds 

 per acre 



120 

 240 

 120 



360 

 240 



3G0 



480 

 2,000 



Yield 

 per acre. 

 Pounds 



12,960 



10,330 



12,400 



8,960 



10,900 



14,100 



9,700 

 7,900 



14,900 



9,500 



Weight 



«-^P'« ""sugar"' 

 tested. ' 9»gar. 



Ounces. I 



17J 

 17i 

 22J 



Hi 



22i 

 27J 



13^ 



22i 



19| 

 2U 



8.36 

 11.93 



9.28 

 10.98 



10.68 



9.34 



8.32 

 10.78 



9.61 



9 80 



Coef. 

 puiity. 



67.37 



77.42 

 67.69 

 70.79 



73.60 



71.24 



70.45 

 75.86 



72.20 



71.48 



Mr. Kingsley sold his beets to the Kalamazoo Beet Sugar Co. The 

 beets tested 10.7 per cent sugar, making the price |4.0G% per ton, with 

 a tare of 9 per cent. 



The above figures show decidedlv increased vields where fertilizers 

 were applied. Nitrogen seeming to be most lacking, followed closely 

 by potash. There is a slightly' increased yield over the nothing plots 

 where lime was applied. 



Why the yield and i)er cent of sugar were not higher is a question that 

 neither Mr. Kingsley nor the writer are able to explain. Mr. C, M. 

 Kingsley, on an adjoining farm, obtained 10 tons per acre with analyses 

 of four acres of beets, showing average of 12.82 per cent sugar. 



SOIL TEST ox MUCK LAND. 



The tests on the muck land in the College Field Xo. 13, on the farms 

 of C. R. Ferguson and Darius Allen, near Almont, Lapeer count}', on 

 Mr. A. M. Todd's farm, at Pearle, Allegan county, and on Brook Farm 

 of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, at Kalamazoo, were conducted 



