DIGEST OP STATE REPORTS. 431 



tive advautages and disadvantages of machinery in agriculture," by B. 

 H. Benton; "Gypsum, or land-plaster, and how to use it," by N. E. 

 Alien ; "Agriculture, a glimpse at its past, present, and future," by J. 

 M. Smith ; " Interest on money, a high rate ruinous to productive in- 

 dustry," by Secretary W. W. Field ; " The future outlook of the dairy- 

 interest in Wisconsin," by Stephen Favill ; " Horses," by John L. Mitch- 

 ell ; "'Agriculture, or light in the bee-hive," by G. W. Maryatt ; " Na- 

 ture's methods of soil-formation, and the process of culture which these 

 methods suggest," by Prof. John Murrish ; " Soils of Eastern Wisconsin," 

 by Prof. T. (J. Chamberlain ; " Live stock on Wisconsin farms," by G-. 

 E. Morrow. Several other interesting papers and two or three valuable 

 reports irom special committees are contained in this volume. Experi- 

 ments on the university farm, under the direction of Professor Daniels, 

 are also given. The experiments with seed from the tips, middle, and 

 butts of ears of corn are interesting. These experiments were com- 

 menced in 1870. In this year, corn from the tips, butts, and middle of 

 the same ears was planted, and each year since the tips, butts, and 

 middle of that raised from like seed the previous year were again 

 planted. The yield ui)on adjacent plats of equal size this season was as 

 follows: Tips, 460 pounds ; middle, 414 pounds ; butts, 422 pounds. No 

 difference was visible in the quality of the corn. The result of five 

 years' experiments demonstrates that it makes no difference from what 

 portion of the ear seed is taken. Professor Daniels's experiments for the 

 improvement of soils by mechanical means are given as follows : 



This experiment waa begun in 1871, upon four adjacent plats of an acre each, to be 

 cultivated as follows : Plat 1, to be plowed to a depth of 5 inches only ; plat 2, to be 

 plowed 12 inches deep; plat 3, to be plowed 20 inches deep by trench-plowing; plat 4, 

 to be plowed 20 inches deep by subsoiling. 



Plats 1 and 2 have been culiivated in the prescribed manner from the beginning. 



Plat 3, in 1871, was plowed 12 inches deep only ; in 1872 and 1873, 17 inches, and in 

 1874, 18 inches, which is as deep as it has been found practicable to plow. 



Plat 4 was subsoiled 16 inches deep in 1871, 17 inches in 1872 and 1873, and 18 inchea 

 in 1874. 



The cultivation of these plats has been the same in all other respects than those men- 

 tioned. The soil is clay, with heavy clay subsoil ; the land is level and rather low. In 

 the fall of 1873, an underground drain was laid through each of tlie plats, to carry 

 away water that formeily flowed over them all after heavy rains. The.se plats have 

 been in cultivation to corn during the entire four years. The following table gives the 

 yield of each, in bushels of ears, weighing 75 pounds : 



Method of caltiyatioai. 



Plowed 5 inches deep 55.4 43.5 53.4 53.0 



Plowed 12 inches deep 50.6 50.3 52.8 58.1 



Treiich-plowe'd 18 inches deep 44.9 54.7 51.3 C5. 3 



Subsoiled 18 inches deep 42.2 56.8 51.1 60.8 



The yield this year shows the benefit of deep cultivation in dry seasons, while the 

 smaller yield last year, on the deeply plowed plats, illustrates the injurious results, in 

 a wet season, of deeply plowed pJatsina retentive subsoil, with no outlet for the super- 

 lluous water. 



Report for 187r)-'76. — This volume is not so large as its predecessor, nor 

 does it contain as great a variety of papers on agricultural subjects. In 

 his report to the governor, the secretary takes occasion to state that the 

 closing year of the national century was somewhat discouraging to cer- 

 tain branches of the agricultural interests of the State. A greater 

 breadth of corn was planted than in any previous year, but the unusu- 

 ally late season, followed by early frosts in August and September, en- 

 tirely ruined thousands of acres, and seriously injured almost every field 



