Division of Agriculture. 



Wm. p. Brooks. 



SOIL TESTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 



In Febrnjirj of last year Prof. W. O. Atwater, Director of the office 

 of Experiment Stations of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, issued a call for a conference of Directors of Experiment Sta- 

 tions and-^others interested in field and plot experimentation, to be 

 held in the library of the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, March 5 and 6, 1889, for the purpose of adopting, if 

 practicable, a uniform method of conducting such expei'iments. It 

 was decided by Director Goodell thnt I should attend this conference, 

 as it was supposed that such experiments, if decided upon, would be 

 carried on under my immediate supervision. 



This conference in which twelve stations were represented, decided 

 upon recommending a plan of experiments of whicli the following are 

 the chief features : 



1. Tliat in each state, soil-tests with fertilizers, with a view to 

 finding out the requirements of soils in different parts of the state for 

 tiie most economical production of different crops be made a leading 

 feature of the work. 



2. That uniform kinds and quantities ot fertilizing materials be 

 used. 



3. That the experiments be continued throughout a series of years, 

 when practicable, and that the fertilizers be repeated on the same 

 plots year after year ; but that the particular crops used be left to the 

 discretion of the stations. 



4. That both manured and unmanured plots be duplicated to as 

 great an extent as may be found practicable. 



5. That in the distribution of such experiments regard be paid to 

 the surface geology of the state. 



