458 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



aud part dressed with superphosphate. Series 2 to 5 received the same 

 applications as series 1, with the addition of the cross-dressings named 

 in the table. 



DETENTION OF PHOSPEOEIC ACID. 



The following is a summaiy of a report by Professor W. Le Eoy 

 Broun, of the University of Georgia, on recent experiments at that insti- 

 tution, in testing the question of the leaching of phosphoric acid from 

 the soil by heavy rains : Strong solutions of monobasic phosphates, ob- 

 tained from commercial manures by dissolving superpliosphatc in water, 

 were filtered through small quantities of red clay taken from a house- 

 cellar and thoroughly dried. The filtrated liquid, tested by molybdate 

 of ammonia, contained but the slightest trace of phosphoric acid ; and 

 though an excess of water, in imitation of a drenching rain, was after- 

 wards applied to the soil, yet the phosphoric acid remained where it was 

 first placed, showing that clay soils are substantially complete absorb- 

 ents of this fertilizing element. 



DEEP PLOWING. 



The Kansas Farmer states that in the autumn of 1869 a Mr. D 



plowed 37 acres of land from twelve to fourteen inches deep, using six 

 horses. Wheat was sown in September, and made a good growth that 

 fall. The next season was very dry, but this wheat appeared to suffer 

 no marked injury, and yielded 40 bushels per acre, while on adjoining 

 land, plowed shallow, the average was not more than half as large. In 

 his next experiment he added to these 37 acres an adjoining field of 

 40 acres, and plowed the whole to a somewhat greater depth than that 

 above mentioned, using a team of eight horses, four abreast. The 

 growth was very fine and even, and the average yield was a little over 

 30 bushels per acre. 



EETENTIOX OF MOISTURE BY DEEP TILLAGE. 



ifessler states, as the results of his esi:)eriments in deep culture, that 

 a soil tilled to the depth of 12 inches lost only one-third of the quantity 

 of water evaporated from an unstirred soil, and soil barely loosened re- 

 tained 50 per cent, more water than the unbrolcen soil. The tilled soil 



