148 STORKS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



AN EXPERIMENT ON SOIL IMPROVEMENT. 



BY C. S. PHELPS. 



lu 1899 the Station began an experiment on a series of plots 

 of land at Storrs, the purpose of which was to compare the 

 value and economy of different methods of manuring for re- 

 storing the fertility to a soil such as is commonly described as 

 " poor" or "worn out." This experiment was to be contin- 

 ued through a period of several years on the same plots. The 

 results here reported are those for the third consecutive year. 



The soil of the field on which this experiment is conducted is 

 medium heavy loam which holds moisture well, but apparently 

 is lacking in organic material and probably in available nitro- 

 gen. The field had been used for a peach orchard from 1889 

 to 1S98, and while the peach trees were growing it had been 

 treated liberally with the mineral fertilizers, phosphoric acid 

 and potash, but little or no nitrogen had been applied. During 

 the years 1 889-1 894 different crops were grown between the 

 rows of trees and were removed from the land; after 1894 the 

 soil was kept under cultivation but no crops were grown except 

 the peaches. Part of the peach trees were removed in the fall 

 of 1S97 ^"<i the remainder in the fall of 1898. In the spring 

 of 1899 a series of parallel plots was laid out upon the field for 

 the purpose of the present experiments. 



■ The plan of these experiments consists in treating the differ- 

 ent plots with different kinds of fertilizers in such a way as to 

 " build up " the general fertility of the soil, growing the same 

 crop on all the plots, and estimating the relative value of the 

 different methods of manuring by a comparison of the results 

 from the different plots. The kinds of fertilizers used are (i) 

 stable manure, (2) a "complete" chemical fertilizer, and (3) 

 " green " manures, both alone and in combination with mineral 

 fertilizers. The following crops are grown in the experiment 

 in a four-year rotation: Corn, potatoes, oats and peas for 



