532 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



mineral, while a complete fertilizer stood second in size of crop secured and 

 first in tests with oats, corn, and mangels in which manure was not used. 

 The results of these crops were obtained in from 15 to 74 tests covering periods 

 of from 3 to 8 years. Oil swamp soils an application of 500 lbs. superphosphate, 

 ICO lbs. muriate of potash, and from 150 to 160 lbs. nitrate of soda resulted in 

 higher yields of corn, potatoes, oats, rape, millet, and mangels than with any 

 other fertilizer or manure tested. 



[The Woburn field experiments], J. A. Voelcker {Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. Etuj- 

 laiid, 69 (1908), vp. 331-351). — The worli of 1908 was a continuation without 

 change in general plan of that previously noted (E. S. R., 21, p. 229). 



Manure taken from the feeding boxes March 19, and kept covered with 

 earth, had lost 47 per cent of its weight by October 16. During the thirty- 

 second season of the continuous wheat growing tests, unmanured wheat 

 produced 12J bu. per acre, or 2 bu. above the average of the last 10 years. 

 The highest yields, 285 bu. per acre, followed applications of minerals and 2 

 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre. An application of the same minerals and 1 

 cwt. of nitrate of soda was followed by a yield of 26.2 bu. With farmyard 

 manure there was produced 24.3 bu., but with 4 cwt. rape dust only 16.6 bu. 

 Results on other plats indicated that the presence of phosphates is more essen- 

 tial than that of potash. When sulphate of ammonia was used alone there was 

 no crop. With 5 cwt. of lime i)er acre the yield was 3 bu. A plat to which 2 

 tons of lime had been applied in 1897 produced 22.9 bu. per acre in 1908, while 

 a renewal of this application in 1905 resulted in a yield of 18.7 bu. in 1908. 

 " Heavy dressings of sulphate of ammonia when continuously applied will run 

 land out where lime is deficient." 



The manure applied to barley on the same field decreased 39 per cent in weight 

 between March 19, 1907, and February 20, 1908. The need of lime was more 

 emphasized on the barley plats than with wheat. There was practically no 

 crop on the plat treated with 5 cwt. of lime and with sulphate of ammonia, 

 while an application of 2 tons per acre in 1907 appeared to be worked out, as 

 the plat was overgrown with spurry. The unmanured plats produced 6 bu. iier 

 acre as compared with an average of 121 bu. for the past 10 years. The highest 

 yield, 24.4 bu. per acre, was produced with farmyard manure. With minerals 

 and nitrate of soda there was produced 22 bu. per .acre, and with 1 and 2 cwt. 

 of nitrate of soda alone 14.4 and 18.1 bu. per acre, respectively. The influence 

 of potash as compared with phosphates was less marked than in the previous 

 year. Rape dust proved much inferior to farmyard manure. The sulphate 

 of ammonia jilats produced very poor crops or entire failures. 



In a series of rotation experiments, the fertilizing value of decorticated cot- 

 ton cake and maize meal fed to sheep was tested. A rotation of wheat follow- 

 ing mustard showed little difference in the manurial value of these 2 feeds. 

 In rotation of barley after swedes fed ofl:" on the land, the decorticated cotton 

 cake plat produced approximately 1* times as much grain as the maize meal 

 plat and twice as much as the plats on which the swedes were fed off without 

 cake or corn. In a third rotation mustard after barley produced a somewhat 

 better crop on the decorticated cotton cake plat, and the same was true of a 

 rotation of swedes after wheat. 



Plats to which lime had been given last in 1904 surpassed those to which 

 mineral fertilizers were applied. Wheat produced the highest yield, 1,498 lbs. 

 of grain per acre, after mustard plowed in with lime; the second highest yield, 

 1,383 lbs. of grain, after rape plowed in with lime; and the poorest yield after 

 vetch plowed in with mineral manures. 



The use of nitro lime or calcium cyanamid and % cwt. of sulphate of ammonia 

 supplying the same amount of nitrogen resulted in yields of 34.9 and 22.77 bu. 



