10 The Bulletin. 



I. FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN ON PIEDMONT RED 



CLAY LOAM SOILS. 



This is the third of a series of Bulletins giving the results of ex- 

 periments to determine the fertilizer or plant food needs of different 

 crops on the different type soils of the State. The two previous re- 

 ports issued as the June and August (1910) Bulletins, gave 



1. Eesiilts of Fertilizer and Variety Experiments with Cow Peas 

 on Piedmont Red Clay Loam Soil (June). 



2. Results of Fertilizer Experiments with Cotton on Piedmont 

 Red Clay Loam Soil; and Varieties, Culture and Fcvtilizntion of 

 Cotton on Piedmont Red Clay Loam, Red Clay and Valley Soils 

 (August). 



More attention is now being paid to corn production than ever 

 before in the history of the State and fertilizers are used more gen- 

 erally on the crop than in former years. Some ten years ago sys- 

 tematic experiments were begun to determine the fertilizer or plant 

 food requirements for the most economical production of cotton on 

 our different cotton soils. 



On the following pages are recorded the results of seven years' 

 fertilizer and variety tests of corn on the Iredell Test Farm of this 

 Department, extending through the years 1903-1909, both inclusive. 

 The work is being continued to collect further data, when grown as 

 it has been in the work here recorded, as well as in rotations with 

 other staple crops and soil improving crops. 



LOCATION OF FARM AND CHARACTER OF SOIL. 



The Iredell Test Farm is located near Statesvillc, in Iredell 

 County, well up in the Piedmont (foothill) section of the State, the 

 elevation being 950 feet above sea level. The main tyjie of soil on 

 the farm is red (cecil) clay loam, the subsoil being a moderately 

 heavy clay, but the surface soil has suificient sand in it to nud<e it a 

 clay loam rather than a clay, though when freshly plowed it would 

 to a casual observer be looked upon as red clay. The main types of 

 soil in the Piedmont are cecil sandy loam (gray land), red (cecil) 

 clay loam, and red (cecil) clay, the latter two being the predom- 

 inating types. The clay and clay loam types are rich in potash, very 

 poor in phosphoric acid, the amount of nitrogen depending on the 

 organic matter in the soil. Analyses of samples of soil from the 

 unfertilized plats, on which these experiments were conducted, show 

 that the soil contains about the following number of pounds of plant 



