494 



used in doses of 5 t<iiis to tlio acre lias shown marked benefit to all yie crops to 

 which it has been applied. The clovers as a class, spurry, lui>iues, tall fescue, and 

 perennial ryf3 grass, were especially beuelited by the marl. * * * 



Plaster showed much benetit, especially on the leguminous crops, and paid well for 

 its use. It was nsoJ froely, 200 pounds to the acre. In beneficial influence it stood 

 uest to marl. 



Salt seemed to be of no benefit to any of the crops except buckwheat. To many 

 crops it seemed to be a damage, especially to clovers and millet. It was used at the 

 rate of 2t pounds to the acre. * » * 



The following plants have practically been failures on the experimental farm, 

 mainl}' on account of frost: cow-pea, New Zealand sjiinach, yellow branching sor- 

 ghum, uiartynia, borage, aud rape. * » * 



The plants [more or less] successful were blue and yellow lupines, Kentucky blue- 

 grass, seven-leaved turnip, timothy (sowed alone), meadow foxtail, » » * si)iuiy, 

 mammoth clover, June clover, alfalfa, white clover, vetch, field peas, Hungarian grass, 

 millet, buckwheat, rye, Bokhara clover, perennial rye grass, tall fescue, anil white 

 turnips. * * * 



It is dilTiculfc to point out on each crop the eti'oct of a green crop plowed under the 

 preceding year; yet the iulluence was marked in all the crops. 



Bdatioa of cultivation to soil moisture (pp. 2G-28). — This is a report 

 on obsorvatious made at the Michigan Agricultural College aud at 

 Grayling: 



Specimens of soil were caiefully examined for the per cent of moisture they con- 

 tained at dill'iicnt periods during tlj(i growing .seasou from May to October, l'*89. 

 Five plats of ground al each station were selected, of uniform character, and in close 

 proximity. The soil at i be college was sandy loam ; at Grayling, saud. One plat was 

 cultivated rei)eati'(lly during the seasou, viz., at each time of gathering the specimen 

 for analysis. A second plat was raked over with a garden rake at each time of col- 

 lecting the speciuH-ns. A third plat was left without treatment, or in naked fallow 

 with nothing growing on it. A fourth plat was iu meadow (timothy sod), but raked 

 with an iron raice at each time of gathering specimens. The fifth plat was timothy 

 meadow, with no treatment. Two sets of specimens were gathered each time, a 

 surface soil, taking the upper 8 inches in each case, and an under soil, taking the soil 

 between 8 anil 16 inches I'roin the surface. 



The percentages of moisture in the samples analyzed are given iu 

 tables, as well as the rainfall for each month of the satne seasou. 



From the 1st of August to the 3Ist of October there were 2.12 inches of rain-fall at 

 the college, yet the average percentage of water iu the cultivated surface soil was 

 13.8t>, just 3 per cent more than similar soil left as naked fallow. From September 

 27 to October 18, without a drop of rain-fall, this cultivated soil increased 2 per cent 

 in moisture \vithout any corresponding change in the layer of soil immediiitely Ijelow 

 it. The raked surface soil had 1 per cent more water than the naked fallow, but 2 

 per cent less than tlie cultivated soil. 



In the sands at Grayling the benefit from cultivating does not appear, and ouly 

 slight benefit from raking. The smaller percentage of water iu the grass lands iu 

 both stations is marked. This might be expected from the large amount of evapor- 

 ating surface of the grass plants and the demand for moisture from the soil. The 

 raking of the grass was done to see if harrowing or scratching the surface would tend 

 to keep meadows moist the same as plow land. No influence of this kind is apparent. 



Soil temperature (i)pi 28-45). — Tabulated record of daily observations 

 of soil temperature, at depths of from 3 to 24 incites, at the college and 

 at Grayling for the months of April to October, inclusive, with compar- 



