334 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Nitrate of soda alone or in combination gave a large increase. " It is especially note- 

 worthy that nitrate of soda alone, applied to a plat which has now received no other 

 fertilizer for 12 years, gives a crop of hay amounting to almost 1\ tons. This plat 

 last year gave a crop of corn at the rate of something less than 14 bu. per acre. The 

 plat to which nitrate of jiotash alone has been applied during the past 12 years gave 

 us last year a yield of corn at the rate of nearly 50 bu. per acre. The hay crop this 

 year is 1,140 lias." 



A soil test with onions was continued this season with the sauie fertilizer applica- 

 tions used the previous year, i. e., different combinations of nitrate of soda, dissolved 

 boneblack, and muriate of potash at the rate of 320, 640, and 320 lbs. per acre, respect- 

 ively (E. S. R., 12, p. 22). This year the limed portion of the plat, which yearly 

 received the mixture of all three fertilizers, yielded nearly 500 bu. per acre of well- 

 cured onions, while the unlimed portion produced only 136.9 l)u. Good crops were 

 obtained only on those plats which received annual applications of potash. The 

 limed jaortion of the plats yearly manured with muriate of potash alone produced 

 383 bu. per acre, as compared with 311 bu. for nitrate of soda and potash, and 380 bu. 

 for dissolved boneblack and potash. The effects of potash far exceeded those of 

 either of the other elements. The results further show that the use of muriate of 

 potash makes the emiiloyment of lime absolutely necessary. Applications of muri- 

 ate of potash and nitrate of soda ^vithout lime proved injurious. The use of dissolved 

 boneblack greatly promoted the perfect ripening of the crop, and corrected in a large 

 measure the injurious effects following the iise of muriate of potash. This is con- 

 sidered due largely to the considerable quantities of sulphate of lime or land plaster 

 contained in all dissolved i?hosphates. Practical advice on fertilizers for onions based 

 on the results obtained are given. 



A special corn fertilizer was compared with an application richer in potash. The 

 fertilizer applied furnished the same amount of plant food as an application of 1,800 

 lbs. per acre, containing an average of 2.37 per cent of nitrogen, 10 per cent of phos- 

 phoric acid, and 4.3 per cent of potash. The other applications contained slightly 

 more nitrogen, nmc)i less phosphoric acid, and considerably more potash. All plats 

 received in addition a ton of lime per acre. The yield with the special fertilizer 

 was 77.50 bu. of shelled corn per acre and 6,270 lbs. of stover, and with the fertilizer 

 richer in potasli, 73.75 bu. of corn and 6,280 lbs. of stover. This series of experi- 

 ments, carried on for 10 yeai-s, has shown that corn can be successfully grown on 

 fertilizers alone. The average financial results of a comparison of barnyard manure 

 alone and with potash for corn were in favor of barnyard manure and potash. 



The results of experiments with soy beans and cowpeas for green manuring showed 

 that the Medium Green soy bean produced 5,386 lbs. of dry matter and 167.3 lbs. 

 of nitrogen per acre, the Wonderful cowpea 3,622 lbs. of dry matter and 80.4 lbs. of 

 nitrogen, and the Black cowpea 3,389 lbs. of dry matter and 62.1 lbs. of nitrogen. 

 The work was conducted on a medium loam soil retentive of moisture and during a 

 season of sufficient rainfall. 



The use of 150 lbs. jjer acre of nitrate of soda on meadows, applied July 1, after 

 the first croj) of hay had been made, gave in one case an apparent increase of 816 lbs. 

 of rowen per acre, and in another 600 lbs. The experiment is not considered conclu- 

 sive as regards the most profitable quantity of nitrate of soda to he used. A similar 

 experiment in jarogress since 1893 consisted in applying 1 ton of wood ashes, 600 lbs. 

 of ground bone and 200 lbs. of muriate of potash, and 8 tons of barnyard manure 

 per acre in rotation on grass land. This year this system was modified by adding 64 

 lbs. of nitrate of soda to the application of wood ashes and 83 lbs. to the application 

 of bone and potash. The jjlat fertilized with wood ashes and nitrate of soda pro- 

 duced the best yields, followed by the plat which had received ground bone, potash, 

 and nitrate of soda. The average yield of hay and rowen for the 3 plats was 6,510 

 lbs. per acre. Since the beginning of the test the plats receiving barnyard manure 



