THIRD REPORT ON THE INFLUENCE OF MANURES ON 

 THE YIELD OF TIMOTHY HAY 



In the fall of 1903, the Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell 

 University began an experiment in connection with a study of the grasses 

 and forage crops in general, to determine primarily the influence of 

 fertilizers upon the yield of timothy hay. In order to make the 

 test conform, as nearly as possible, to ordinary farm practice the 

 timothy has been grown as one of the crops in a six-year rotation consist- 

 ing of corn, oats, wheat, and timothy three years, and the effect of the 

 fertilizers upon all the crops in the rotation noted. Two reports upon 

 this experiment have been made, the first in 1905, as Bulletin 232, by John 

 W. Gilmore and Samuel Fraser, and the second in 1906, as Bulletin 241, 

 by John W. Gilmore and Charles F. Clark. The experiment was planned 

 and reports made under the direction of Professor T. F. Hunt. 



THE SOIL 



The soil on which this experiment is being conducted is described as 

 the "silty phase of Dunkirk clay loam." It is very tenacious and diffi- 

 cult to work except when moisture conditions are most favorable. This 

 type of soil is well adapted to the growth of timothy but is not so well 

 suited to corn. The tract is slightly rolling and fairly well drained. In 

 1902, this area was in corn, and a crop of oats was harvested from it in 

 1903. 



THE PLATS 



This experiment comprises a series of twenty-two plats. They are of 

 rectangular shape, 226.5 feet long and 19.25 feet wide, making an area of 

 one-tenth acre. This width was chosen because it is the distance covered 

 by three courses of the drill. The plats are separated from each other 

 by a two-foot space which is kept cultivated. All plats are definitely 

 marked by means of permanent gas-pipe stakes, two feet in length, and 

 driven to such a depth that harvesting machinery will pass over them. 



TREATMENT AND YIELDS 



The materials that have been used as sources of the various fertilizing 

 elements are, for nitrogen, nitrate of soda; for phosphorus, superphos- 

 phate; and for potassium, muriate of potash. Stable manure was applied 

 to two plats at the rate of ten and twenty tons per acre, respectively. On 



