233 



Massachusetts Hatch Station, Bulletin No. 9, May, 1890 (pp. 47). 



Soil tests with fertilizers, W. P. Brooks, B. S. — This is a 

 report of a series of co-operative field experiments with fertilizers ap- 

 plied to corn on eight farms in seven different counties in Massachusetts, 

 to test the special ueeils of soils. The plan adopted by the confer- 

 ence of experiment station representatives at Washington in March, 

 1889. and published in Circular No. 7 of this Office, is closely followed. 

 A circular letter was sent to the presidents of ten of the county agri- 

 cultural societies of the State, explaining the purpose and general plan 

 of the local soil tests proposed, and inviting the co-operation of the 

 society. The replies received were all favorable, and several of the 

 presidents addressed offered to conduct the experiments themselves. 

 Care was used in the selection of experimenters, and in every case ex- 

 cept two a personal inspection was made of the laud by one of the station 

 staff" before its acceptance for the trial. The fifteen twentieth-acre 

 plats used in each trial were long and narrow, with intervening strips, 

 making the total area 1 acre. Nitrate of soda at the rate of 100 pounds 

 per acre, furnishing 24 pounds of nitrogen, superphosphate (dissolved 

 bone-black) at the rate of 320 pounds, furnishing 69 pounds of available 

 phosphoric acid, and muriate of potash at the rate of 100 pounds, furnish- 

 ing 72 pounds of " actual potash," were used, each by itself, on three 

 plats, two by two on three plats, and all together in a "complete fer- 

 tilizer" on one plat. Sulphate of lime (plaster) at the rate of 100 

 pounds, lime at the rate of 100 i^ounds, and barn-yard manure at the 

 rate of 5 untrodden cords per acre were used singly on three plats, 

 while five plats were left unmanured. The commercial fertilizers were 

 supplied by the station. Analyses were made of these, and in nearly 

 every case of the barn-yard manure. The fertilizers were in all cases 

 applied broadcast to i^lowed land and harrowed in just previous to 

 planting. The selection of seed was left to the individual experiment- 

 ers, in all cases a variety of yellow dent corn being used. The rows 

 were 3 J feet apart, and the planting generally in hills. Each experi- 

 menter was furnished with maximuni and minimum registering ther- 

 mometers and a rain-gauge. Each field was visited twice during the 

 season by a representative from the station, and the harvesting and 

 weighing of crops was done in the presence of a station assistant. 



Each of the eight experiments, including one made on the station 

 grounds, is reported by itself, and details are given of yields of hard and 

 soft corn and stover in pounds per plat and per acre; gain or loss as 

 compared with unfertilized plats 5 results of measurements of height of 

 corn at different times during the season ; summary of observations of 

 temperature and rain-fall ; results of the addition of nitrogen, phospho- 

 ric acid, potash, complete fertilizer, barn-yard manure, land plaster, 



