632 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the highest yields. Brief progress reports are given of the results of sowings 

 of each of a large number of varieties of small grains and grasses at the Ram- 

 part and Fairbanks stations. At the former station, the more notable potato 

 3 ields were made by the Early Harvest, Garfield, Pat's Choice, Hamilton Early, 

 Red River Ohio, and Burpee Early varieties. A weather record for the year 

 ended September 30, at the Kodiali Station Is given. Beach grass was har- 

 vested for silage during rainy weather and for hay during dry weather. Sand 

 spurry seeded May 1 at Calsinsljy Bay stood 12 to 15 in. high August 15 and 

 was relished by the milch cows. Work at the Rampart Station on clearing the 

 land of moss by burning has been discussed editorially (E. S. R., 23. p. 103). 



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

 land, 10 (1909), pp. 362-388) .—The work of 1909 has been continued with little 

 change in plan from that of 1908, previously noted (E. S. R., 23. p. 532). A 

 sunless spring and summer with very continuous rainfall resulteil in harvests 

 of grain of veiy poor quality. 



In the continuous wheat growing tests on plats dressed with nitrate of soda 

 only, in amounts supplying 50 and 25 lbs. of ammonia, the crop failed to tiller 

 well and produced very inferior grain with the lowest weight per bushel in the 

 series. The check plat yielded 7| bu. per acre while the highest yield, 27.8 bu., 

 followed the application of farmyard manure. Sulphate of ammonia applied 

 with less than 10 cwt. of lime produced a reduced crop or no crop at all. The 

 plat which received a complete fertilizer again .showed a yield of 5 bu. per acre 

 less than the plat which also i-eceived 1 ton of lime in 1905, while tlie influ- 

 ence of lime apjilied in 1897 remained apparent. The use of phosphate proved 

 more necessary than that of potash. 



Barley on the same field, also in the thirty-third season of continuous grow- 

 ing, produced yields of 45.4 and 36.9 bu. per acre respectively on the plat fer- 

 tilized with farmyard manure and a mixture of sulphate of potash and nitrate 

 of soda, while mineral manures alone or with sulphate of ammonia produced 

 markedly lower yields than the unmanured plats. The further applictaion of 2 

 tons per acre of lime as compared with 1 ton applied in 1905 yieldetl 30.6 and 

 28.8 bu. per acre respectively, as compared with 27.8 bu. on a plat which had 

 not received lime since 1897. 



On the same field lime was added to swedes in 1909 after wheat in 1908. at 

 the rate of 2 tons per acre, because of the appearance of spurry. The supposed 

 superiority of cotton cake fed on the land or put on in the form of farmyard 

 manure failed to appear in either the sheep-feeding or the bullock-feeding por- 

 tion of this rotation. In a rotation in which mustard followed barley, the cot- 

 ton cake plats excelled all others in yield but stood lowest in a rotation of 

 wheat after mustard. In a rotation of barley after swedes, about the same 

 yield was produced when a swede crop had been fed off by sheep on the land 

 as when it had been previously treated with farmyard manure from bullocks. 



In a test of 3 Argentine varieties of alfalfa, La Pampa produced the highest 

 yield of gi-een produce per acre in 1908, but the lowest in 1909 when Buenos 

 Aires excelled it with a yield of 2 tons 8f cwt. per acre. Canadian seed excelled 

 both American seed and Provence seed in the fourth crop with a yield of 16 

 tons 18f cwt. of green produce per acre. Inoculation with nitro-bacterine 

 applied with the seed and later by sowing with soil, produced negative results, 

 yielding a slight gain with Dutch White clover and a loss with Mammoth White 

 clover. Applications of 2 tons of lump lime or 10 cwt. of ground lime showed 

 a distinct advantage, the heavier application being followed l^y an increase 

 of 17 bu. per acre in the yield of barley. 



Field experiments with magnesia on wheat confirm the observations pre- 

 viously made in pot culture work. The magnesia, applied at rates of 1^, 3, and 



