78 



RESULTS OF THE ADDITION OF POTASH TO 



Nothing. 



Oats, bushels per acre, .08 

 Straw, pounds, " 520 



Value of net average decrease 



Financial result, 



RESULTS OF THE ADDITION TO NOTHING OF 



Complete Barn-yard Land 



fertilizer. manure. Plaster. Lime. 



Oats, bushels per acre, 8.29 13.95 —1.80 —2.71 



Straw, pounds " 1410 1827 —195 —367 



Fertilizer. Manure. Plaster. Lime. 



Value of net increment due to $9.79 $14.28 



Value of decrease due to $1.68 $2.82 



Financial result, 2.21 loss 10.72 loss 2.40 loss 3.78 loss 



These comparisons indicate that the nitrogen of the fertilizers used 

 was tlie most important element for this crop. The results are to a 

 certain degree, however, perplexing. It is difficult to understand 

 why the addition o( nitrogen to muriate of potash, or to muriate of 

 potash and phosphoric acid should not produce even greater benefit 

 than its use in other plots. That the nitrate of soda should prove 

 especially beneficial to spring grain is, however, in strict accordance 

 with the results obtained by European and American experimenters 

 generally, and affords a striking illustration of the often observed 

 fact that the manurial requirements of crops cannot be determined 

 by a study of the composition of their ash. There is a close general 

 resemblance in ash composition between oat straw and oats on the 

 one hand, and corn stover and corn on the otlier ; and yet the manu- 

 rial requirements of the two crops on the same soil would appear to 

 be widely different. 



Oats in common with other crops which make the chief part of 

 their growth early in the season, derive great benefit from a spring 

 application of nitrogen in available form. Corn, on the other hand, 

 growing most rapidly during July and August, appears to be able to 

 derive most of its nitrogen from the soil, probably from the products 

 of the decay and nitrification of the nitrogenous organic matter of 

 the soil. 



The acre which was used for this experiment was used in 1889 and 

 1890 in a soil-test of a similar kind with fertilizers for corn, and 



