464 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



3 ft. high, gave a profitable increase in tlic paddy crop. Since 1889 cow mannre has 

 been tlie most effective fertiUzer for jute. An experiment witli sugar cane consi.'Jted 

 in testing the relative merits of cow manure, bone meal, a mixture of the two, and a 

 mixture of cow dung and superphosphate applied in quantities furnishing 250 lbs. of 

 nitrogen per acre. .\11 returns showed a small profit. The use of cow manure and 

 bone meal gave the largest yield. Fertilizer tests with potatoes resulted in favor of 

 manure kept in covered i)its and moistened with the liquid manure of cattle. The 

 use of ,SV'.s/j((»/a aculeate as a green manure for potatoes proved profitable as compared 

 with unmanured plats. 



Durir.g the last 4 years sowing paddy at the rate of 60 lbs. per acre has given 

 decidedly better results' than sowing one half that amount. The increase in yield 

 this season due to seed selection amounted to 30 per cent. The ordinary method of 

 planting sugar cane in shallow furrows yielded 49,236 lbs. and the method of trench 

 planting 62,351 lbs. of cane per acre. Cuttings from the whole canes gave better 

 results than top cuttings. In potato planting experiments the same weight of tubers 

 as cut seeds gave a larger yield than whole tubers, but for the same number of plants 

 per acre the results favor the whole tubers. 



The results of variety tests were in favor of Diamond Harbor paddy, Kajli sugar 

 cane, Amragachi potatoes, and Black Seeded sorghum. 



Field experiments with fertilizers, C. E. Thorxe ( Ohio Sta. Bui. I4I, pp. 69-84, 

 ph. -}). — The plan of these ex{)eriments and a summary of the results up to 1900 

 have been published in previous bulletins (E. S. E., 13, p. 340). The work is being 

 conducted at the station at Wooster and the branch station at Strongsville. The 

 purpose of the present bulletin is to discuss the questions relating to the economical 

 production of crops by the use of commercial fertilizers. Data thus far obtained at 

 both places, showing the average yield, average increase in its value, cost of fertil- 

 izers and profit or loss per acre, and the effects of reducing the nitrogen and potash, 

 the comparison of fertilizers of different percentage composition, and the influence 

 of lime on clover, are given in tables. 



The average value of the total increase in the 5-crop rotation at Wooster has been 

 greatest on the plats receiving the largest applications of commercial fertilizers and 

 barnyard manure, and these plats have also gradually outranked the others in net 

 profit per acre. The results at Strongsville indicate that the applications of nitro- 

 gen and potash may be safely reduced to the lowest quantities used in this test. 

 They further show that phosphoric acid is the dominant element in producing 

 increase of crop on that soil. In these tests steamed bone meal proved more effect- 

 ive than raw bone meal, believed to be due to its greater fineness. 



In 1900 an experiment was begun at the station to test the effect of lime upon 

 clover, on soil poor in clover production. The average yield on plats receiving 1,000 

 lbs. of lime per acre, either alone or in combination with other fertilizers, was in 

 some instances one-half ton per acre larger than on the corresponding milimed plats. 

 The author believes these results indicate "that on a soil which has become acid 

 through exhaustive cultivation and the use of incomplete fertilizers, and on which 

 clover refu.ses to grow, the addition of lime may restore the conditions essential to 

 clover production." 



The following conclusions are considered applicable to the kind of soil on which 

 the experiments are being made, which is described as "a thin sheet of glacial drift, 

 lying upon and largely modified by shales and sandstones of the Waverly formation. 



"For the soils under test in these experiments phosphorus is the controlling element 

 in producing increase of cereal crops, and neither nitrogen nor potassium will produce 

 a profitable increase except when used in association with phosphorus. 



"Except on soils which have been depleted by exhaustive cropping, the quantity of 



