351 



the station, so that the cost of transportation is small. The others had 

 to be brought from a distance. The surface soil is used in each case. 

 In preparing each lot for experiment the original soil and subsoil are 

 removed to the depth of 1 meter. At this depth the natural subsoil 

 is sandy and pervious, and apparently uniform over the whole experi- 

 mental area, so that it seems reasonably certain that the drainage 

 and water supply from below will be alike throughout. The space 

 thus excavated is then filled with the imported soils. These are very 

 thoroughly mixed, shovelful by shovelful, so that each lot is uniform in 

 physical and chemical characters. Two lots are to be devoted to the 

 loam, on account of the prevalence of soils of this class in Saxony and 

 its consequent importance for experiments. For the calcareous and 

 humous soils, which have to be brought from quite a distance, one half 

 a lot or five plats for each are used. To each of the other lands of soil 

 one lot is to be devoted. 



By this means it is hoped to secure uniform conditions of temperature, 

 moisture, and chemical and physical character of soil for all the plats 

 of each ty^pe of soil. 



To protect plants at the time of the ripening of the seeds from the 

 depredations of sparrows, which are very numerous in the locality, it is 

 proposed to stretch wire netting over the lots. The same arrangement 

 is planned for the box experiments to be described beyond. An attempt 

 to frighten the birds away by a bird of prey confined by a chain near 

 by, did not prove successful. 



Such an arrangement as this is fitted for tests of fertilizers, methods 

 of planting or tillage, or varieties of plants. The first experiments her§ 

 are to be tests of varieties of wheat, which is now a very important 

 subject for farming in Saxony. 



But plat experiments, however carefully planned, do not entirely suf- 

 fice. Even if the conditions of soil, subsoil, temperature, and rainfall 

 are uniform there is no w^ay of measuring or controlling the supply of 

 moisture. Other important questions, such as the gain and loss of 

 l»lant food with dift'erent plants and under different methods of treat- 

 ment, can not be accurately studied in this way. To facilitate such 

 investigations the station had recourse to box experiments. 



In the language of Dr. Steglich, who has supplied the data for this 

 account of the plans for experiments at Dresden, — 



For tests wLicli require scientifically exact installation tiud the control of certain 

 conditions of growth, a system of vegetation boxes is provided. These are tilled 

 with the soil which is to be experimented with and placed in the ground in rows. 

 Each row represents a series of experimental trials. The soil between and around 

 the boxes will bear the same kinds of plants as that within them, so as to secure 

 uniform growth. Thus each box represents an entirely isolated portion of the whole 

 experimental area. * * * In the present state of experimental inquiry an 

 arrangement of this kind, especially in the light of what has been done by Wolff and 

 "Wagner, is really indispensable wherever the purely scientific results of laboratory 

 investigation are to be applied to practice, or wherever exact experiments aie to be 

 made. 



