132 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Soy beans planted June 12 were cut for hay September 10. The yield of hay 

 was at the rate of 3.828 lbs. per acre. A row of beans left uncut to ripen was 

 killed by frost October 12. Kleinwanzleben sugar beets planted May 30 were 

 harvested October 26, giving a yield of 9 tons per acre. The sugar content was 

 16.9 per cent and the purity 93.3 per cent. Alfalfa was sown at the rate of 25 

 lbs. of seed per acre on May 2. The alfalfa grew to the end of the season and 

 stood from 6 to 7 in. high. 



At Ashland, on clay soil, Oderbruck barley sown May 10 at the rate of 

 7 pk. of seed per acre was harvested August 10. The crop was heavy in straw, 

 stood lip well, and free from rust or smut, and the yield per acre was 22^ bu. 

 This first plat was on fall plowing. The spring plowed plat, although better 

 drained than the first, yielded only 10 bu. per acre. Swedish Select oats were 

 sown May 16 and 20 at the rate of 2 bu. of seed per acre. The early sowing 

 produced a good stand but was attacked by rust and yielded only 16 bu. per acre. 

 The later sown oats did not reach maturity. A good patch of clover was 

 secured with the oats as a nui'se crop and a still better one with the barley. 

 White Flint corn planted July 11 had produced fully developed ears in the milk 

 stage by September 8 and was cut for fodder early in October. 



At Superior, Swedish Select oats on a stiff red clay loam, rather mucky in the 

 lowest places and poorly drained, produced only 9 bu. of grain of poor quality. 



Potatoes were planted at Iron River on 4 different plats. The first was 

 manured with well-rotted barnyard manure at the rate of 10 loads per acre. 

 The second i-eceived 200 lbs. of sodium nitrate, 300 lbs. of desiccated bone, and 

 200 lbs. of potassium sulphate per acre. The third was left as a check, and on 

 the fourth a crop of clover was turned under. The barnyard manure plat yielded 

 197 bu. 14 lbs., the commercial fertilizer plat 192 bu. 23 lbs., the check plat 

 174 bu. 53 lbs., and the clover plat 241 bu. 30 lbs. per acre. It was also shown 

 that potatoes should not be raised two years in succession on the same land, and 

 that nitrogen at present seems to be the only fertilizer element needed to produce 

 a good crop of potatoes on these sandy soils. This type of soil seemed well 

 adapted to the potato and clover growing is the cheapest method of supplying the 

 soil with the needed nitrogen. 



Other experiments on sandy soils with corn and potatoes seemed to show that 

 peat in combination with rock phosphate and potassium sulphate is an effective 

 substitute for barnyard manure. Acid phosphate apparently gave a decided 

 increase in yield, while lime also gave an increase, but not in any marked degree. 

 The principal needs of this type of soil are nitrogen and humus, of which peat is 

 a cheap source. The results of experiments with green manuring crops showed 

 that the cowpea, hairy vetch, soy bean, and crimson clover were best adapted to 

 that kind of soil. 



Notes are also given on experimental work conducted on the red clay soils with 

 barley, oats, and corn, and with rotations and fertilizers. The effect of tile 

 drainage was observed to be beneficial to the different crops, but with oats the 

 effect was not so pronounced as with barley. Corn gave a better crop on tiled 

 than on untiled land, and the best results were obtained where the tiles were 

 placed 40 ft. apart. 



Small grain crops, A. M. Ten Eyck and V. INI. Shoeswith (Kansas Sta. Bui. 

 144, pp. lJil-193, figs. 5). — A trial of varieties of winter wheat is described in 

 detail. Hardy strains of durum wheats sown in fall were nearly all destroyed, 

 while ordinary winter varieties survived the winter in good condition. Observa- 

 tions made in 1904 on the yield in connection with stooling showed that those va- 

 rieties averaging 6 or more tillers per plant made an average yield of 28.45 bu. 

 per acre, while those averaging less than 6 produced 21.74 bu. The varieties yield- 

 ing 27 bu. or more per acre averaged 0.6 tillers per plant, while those yielding 



