493 



sced-siiien ^orc made in seed testers, in seed boxes, and in some cases 

 in tlie oi)en ground. The results, as briefly stated and iUustratetl in 

 the report, may be summed up* as follows: "(1) The seeils were, as a 

 rule, well cleaned and free from foreign seeds. In a few cases they 

 were mixed with other varieties. (2) Xo seedsman, so far as the tests 

 went, is absolutely reliable. While all of them furnished seeds of a 

 high character as a general rule, packets were frecpiently found that 

 had a very low per cent of germination, so low in fact that if any 

 reliance liad been i)laced upon them for a crop a failure would have 

 resulted. * * * (3) Qm- seed tests led us to believe that nmny if 

 not all seedsmen practice the mixing of their old seeds with the new 

 cro]) to an extent that can not fail to be injurious to the purchaser." 



ItEPOKT OF CIIKMIST, R. C. Kedzie, M. D. (pp. 22-87). 



The experimental farm at GrayUng (pp. 22-20).— 



This farm of BO acres iu Crawford County is iu the heart of what is called the piue 

 liarri'iis, and is a fair representative of the light, sandy soils of the State, where the 

 principal forest growth is jack piue (Piiius hanksiana) aud popularly known as jack- 

 pine plains. Ahnig with the jack pine there arc found scattering trees of Norway 

 pine, shrubs of scarlet oak, red maple, dwarf huckleberry and sand cherry, sweet 

 fern, brakes, aud many kinds of bunch grass. The soil is a yellow to browu sand, 

 having little cohesion and small retentive power. Chemical analysis shows the 

 iwcsence of 94 per cent of sand aud insoluble silicates, and only 2 per cent of 

 oiganic matter. The repeated tires that have swept over these plains explain the 

 deficiency iu organic matter iu these soils, aud afford a reason for the kind of forest 

 growth most common on these plains. 



When the land is plowed, after clearing off the trees and shrubs, the soil is usually 

 found too open and porous to sustain cro])s; the rain sinks too rapidly ; the capillary 

 power of the soil to bring up moisture from beneath is too feeble ; and the root con- 

 tact with the soil by the plant too imperfect to secure satisfactory growth. 



The two conditions to be secured at the very outset after " breaking the ground," 

 are to increase the amount of vegetable matter in the soil, and to secure a good seed 

 bed by compacting the loose sand. For those purposes three measures have been 

 adopted: (I) to. keep out the fires that burn up the annual accumulation on the 

 ground of loaves and vegetable materials and even destroy a i)art of the organic 

 matter iu the soil; (2) to raise on the ground plants that will afford the largest 

 amount of organic matter, to bo plowed under as green manuro, aud thus rapidly 

 increase the organic matter in the soil and available material for tlie growth of 

 succeeding crops; (o) the free and repeated use of the harrow and roller to compact 

 tlie soil. 



The changes that have been efTected in two seasons' growth by these agencies are 

 evident to any one who will examine these experimental fields. The darker color of 

 t li<! soil, its greater lirmuess, and the increased growth of crops, all bear witness to a 

 favorable chaug(!. 



The investigation of the capabilities of this soil was comlucted entirely on the 

 basis of practical utility, to *uswer the question whether a man with limited means 

 and unable to buy costly fertilizers, could hope to make a satisfactory farm on the 

 plains. The use of barn-yard manure was rejected for two good reasons: (1) because 

 it had already been demonstrated that large crops could be grown on the sands 

 with a free use of barn-yard manure ; and (y) the supply of such manuro was too 

 limited for the vast area to be occupied. For similar reasons commercial fertilizers 

 were not used in th(i experiments. » » » Three raanurial substances have been 

 selected for these experiments, viz., marl, plaster, and salt. * * * The marl v/heu 

 23455— Xo. 3 



