24 



Auburn Experiments in 1898, 1899, & 1900, on Experi- 

 ment Station Farm. 



These tests were made on three adjacent areas set 

 apart for permanent fertilizer experiments with cotton, 

 corn, and oats. The soil is of the same character on all 

 three areas, as was also the previous fertilization of 

 each plot. 



All three of the cotton crops were preceded by oats 

 fertilized like the corresponding cotton plot. 



In 1900 each plot received the same fertilizer as in 

 1898 and 1899. Hence the results should show not only 

 the immediate effects of fertilizers, but the residual on 

 cumulative effects, if there are any on this light soil. 



Contrary to our usual custom, cowpeas were not sown 

 after the oats, but instead a thin growth of crabgrass, 

 rag weed, and poverty weed covered the ground during 

 the summer and fall following the harvesting of each oat 



crop. 



Commercial fertilizers, chiefly acid phosphate, had 

 been liberally, though not lavishly, employed annually 

 for a number of years before the experiment began. 



The soil is a deep sand bed nearly free from stone or 

 gravel, and the plots occupy the crest of a hill. 



The dates of planting were April 15, 1898; April 11, 

 1899; and April 24, 1900. The stand was nearly per- 

 fect except in 1900, when there was some slight want of 

 uniformity, so that the figures for 1900 represent the 

 yields after being corrected on the basis of an equal num- 

 ber of plants on each plot. 



The Peerless variety was used each year. In 1898 

 Sblack rust was quite injurious. September 23 it was es- 

 timated that the plants on the plots on which kainit had 

 been used had shed 50 to 70 per cent, of their leaves while 



