I06 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



tion of the growing crop, failed to produce an increase of yield commen- 

 surate with the increase of cost. Farmers seldom carry their tests to the 

 point of actual weights and measurements, and consequently the opinion 

 became general that the nitrogen supply, at least, would take care of it- 

 self. With some farmers, who continued to use considerable quantities 

 of manure, re-enforcing this with small additions of commercial fertili- 

 zers, this opinion was well founded ; but many accepted the conclusions 

 of these farmers as adapted to farms where no such supply of nitrogen 

 was maintained. The consequence has been that the land has become 

 more and more depleted of its humus, the phosphates used accelerating 

 this depletion ; the yield of corn is diminishing, and that of wheat is 

 maintained only by constantly increasing purchases of fertilizers. 



III. 



One of the farms purchased by the Ohio Experiment Station on its 

 removal to Wayne county had been rented for many years before it 

 came into possession of the station and was reduced to a very low state 

 of productiveness. On this farm a 5-year rotation of corn, oats, wheat 

 clover and timothy has been maintained since 1894, the rotation being 

 so planned that each crop is represented every season. 



In this experiment the land is divided into long, narrow plots, 

 containing one-tenth acre each. Every third plot is left continuously 

 unfertilized, while the intervening plots receive different fertilizing com- 

 pounds, the fertilizing of each plot having been continued under a 

 definite plan since the beginning of the test. The experiment has now 

 been in progress for 12 years. It was so planned that during the first 5 

 years of this period, 1894 to 1898 inclusive, 5 crops of each of the cereals 

 were grown, with 4 crops of clover and 3 of timothy, the fertilizers being 

 applied to the cereal crops only. The average yields on the unfertilized 

 land for this period and for the subsequent 7-year period are given in 

 Table II. 



