FERTILIZERS. 577 



together and in varying proportions, on plata of land selected for its natural uni- 

 formity, and so treated, by drainage and tillage, as to increase this uniformity to the 

 utmost possible extent, these plats being duplicated on typical soils of different for- 

 mations, in widely separated regions of the State. 



"Nitrogen is applied to one plat in quantity sufficient to supply the full require- 

 ments of the crops to be grown, and to other plats in smaller quantity. 



"The cereal crops, corn, oats, and wheat, are grown continuously on the same 

 land, both with and without manure and fertilizers, in order to study their feeding 

 habits, while the same crops, with the addition of potatoes, clover, and timothy, are 

 grown in different rotations, in order both to study this question and to learn the 

 limit of possible recovery of plant food applied in fertilizers; and finally, the con- 

 stituents of fertility are ai)plied in various forms — nitrogen in nitrate of soda, sul- 

 phate of ammonia [60-120 lbs.], slaughterhouse refuse [dried blood, 100-200 lbs.], 

 linseed meal [250-500 lbs.] and barnyard manure [4-8 tons] ; and pliosphoric acid in 

 dissolved boneblack, raw bone meal [55-118 lbs.], acid phosphate [85-170 lbs], basic 

 slag [65-130 lbs. j, wheat bran [500-1,000 lbs.] and manure.'' 



The fertilizers were applied on tlie basis of 1 part of nitrogen to 1.5 

 parts of phosphoric acid, this being calculated to be the narrowest 

 ratio permissible in a plan which undertakes to return the fertilizing 

 coustituents removed in the 5-crop rotation given above. The actual 

 rates per acre were as a rule 320 lbs. of superphosphate, 480 lbs. of 

 nitrate of soda, aud 2r»0 lbs. of muriate of potash, it being estimated 

 that these amounts " would furnish as much phosphoric acid and nearly 

 as much nitrogen as are coutaiued in an increase of 1.3 bu. of wheat, 27 

 bu. of corn, aud 28 bu. of oats, with their straw and stalks, and phos- 

 phoric acid to spare sufficient for 4,000 lbs. of mixed clover and timothy- 

 hay, leaving the nitrogen in the hay crops unprovided for." 



The proportions were varied somewhat in different cases, and the 

 other fertilizing materials named were substituted in some cases. 



"The work is now located in four sections of the State, as follows: 



" (1) At the central station at Wooster, on a light, yellow claj' or clay loam, lying 

 over AVaverly shales. About 30 acres of land are now under experiment with fertil- 

 izers here, all being divided into plats containing one-tenth acre each, the plats being 

 16 ft. wide aud sejiarated by vacant spaces 2 ft. wide. Under every second vacant 

 space a tile drain is laid, the drains thus being 36 ft. apart. They are laid about 

 30 in. deep. 



"Two rotations are in progress here, one of the 5 crops, corn, oats, wheat, clover, 

 and timothy, and one of potatoes, wheat, and clover, each crop being grown but 1 

 year in the rotation. In addition to these rotation experiments, 1 acre each is devoted 

 to the continuous culture of corn, oats, and wheat, both with and without manure. 

 Neither of these rotations has yet been completed, the first having been begun in 

 1893, the second in 1894. 



"(2) The work on the farm of the Ohio State University, begun by the station in 

 1888, is still continued under the station's management, through the cooperation of 

 the farm department of the University. lu this work about 7 acres are used in the 

 continuous culture of corn, oats, and wheat, and about 3 acres iu a rotation of these 

 crops with clover and timothy. 



" The soil here is a heavy clay, the portions devoted to wheat and to crop rotation 

 lying upon the impervious Huron shale, while that in contiuuous culture of oats and 

 coru is underlaid with gravel. The whole tract is platted and underdrained as at 

 the central station, excejit that the rotation jilats contain but one-twentieth acre 

 each. 



