521 



that while their lordships are disposed to accede to the request con- 

 tained therein, it is too late now to include for this year the science of 

 agriculture in the list of subjects toward instruction in which aid is 

 granted by this department. The case is, therefore, reserved for future 

 but early consideration." In the mean time this committee call atten- 

 tion to the fact that the branches which must be the foundation of any 

 course of instruction in agriculture are alreadj' aided, both in element- 

 ary schools and in the department of science and art : % 



ExPEREMENTS m AGRICULTURE, — The following is au abbreviated 

 statement of experiments and their results, conducted by Dr. E. M. 

 Pendletou, professor of agriculture in the Georgia State College of 

 Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, as reported by him at the semi- 

 annual meeting of the Georgia State Agricultural Society : 



Wheat, broadcast and drilled : Sown the 1st of November, plats 1 

 and 2, side by side, on poor land of equal fertility, without manure ; 

 plat 1, broadcast, at the rate of 2 bushels per acre, through mistake, 

 only 1 bushel being intended. But as about half, before it was well 

 rooted, was killed out by the first cold spell, it only " stood about as 

 thick as from one bushel of seed." In preparing plat 2 for the drill, 

 the soil was thrown up in shar^) ridges by running parallel furrows 

 about 15 inches apart. As the seed at the rate of one-half a bushel to 

 the acre was sown, the most of it fell into the furrows between the 

 ridges. By splitting the latter with a bull-tongue, the remainder was 

 thrown in, and the whole covered " beautifully." In March, when the 

 wheat on this plat was in the joint, a single furrow was run between 

 each two rows by a subsoil-plow. " The helve of this plow, being a bar 

 of iron, threw up no dirt on the wheat, but answered the double pur- 

 pose of draining the land and opening it that the atmosphere might 

 penetrate, and thus prepare additional food for the plants. The good 

 effect was very perceptible." The variety sown was Tappahannock. 

 The broadcast yielded at the rate of 414 pounds, or 6.09 bushels, of 

 wheat, and 836i pounds of straw, per acre; the drilled at the rate of 517.5 

 pounds, or 8.62 bushels, of wheat, and 812 pounds of straw. The pro- 

 fessor, assuming that the proportion of seed per acre required is, for the 

 broadcast one bushel, and for the drilled one-half bushel, and that it is 

 sown on land equivalent to that on which the experiment was made, 

 reckons as compensation for the additional labor, before harvesting, in 

 the drilling process, as follows : besides a gain, on a field of 10 acres, of 

 31.5 bushels of wheat, " for every bushel of grain made on the broadcast 

 system there is carried off 137 pounds of straw, while for the same 

 amount of grain when drilled there is carried off 99 pounds of straw. 

 This, then, involves considerably more labor in cutting, hauling, and 

 thrashing for the same amount of grain obtained, and takes oft" about 

 35 per cent, more of the valuable substances making up agricultural 

 plants." 



Plat 3, fertilized with 300 pounds, per acre, of ammoniated super- 

 phosphate in the drill, with one-half bushel of seed, yielded at the 

 rate of 724.5 f)ounds — 12.07 bushels — of wheat, and 979 pounds of straw, 

 j>er acre. The fertilizer cost $9.75 j gain in wheat over that without a 

 fertilizer, 3.45 bushels. 



Plat 4, with the same treatment, except that the seed was doubled, 

 yielded exactly the same amount of wheat, but 80 pounds more straw, 

 per acre. 



Plat 5, with 300 pounds per acre of superphosphate and 1 bushel of 

 .seed in the drill, produced at the rate of 700 pounds — 11.67 bushels — of 



