but this difference is very slight and not sufficient to account for the 

 great difference in yield; in fact, certain beneficial treatments given 

 the poor soil by the wire-basket method have caused it to outrank the 

 good soil by any treatment yet tried. 



It must be understood that the results of the following investiga- 

 tions are held to apply only to the two fields under consideration, 

 although it seems probable from a study of the conditions throughout 

 'the county that they might be applicable to considerable areas of this 

 type of soil. It must be understood, also, that the conditions encoun- 

 tered in field practice are so different from those which obtain in 

 these experiments that the treatments, if put to a practical field test, 

 might prove more or less efficient, or, owing to uncontrollable condi- 

 tions, such as excessive rainfall or drought, might fail entirely. 

 Furthermore, the wheat plant has been used exclusively as the test of 

 fertility in these experiments, and whether this plant is a safe indi- 

 cator of the manurial requirements of other crops is a matter which 

 has not yet been determined. It is, however, generally conceded that 

 if a soil can be made productive for wheat, it will be productive, as a 

 rule, for general farm crops. The object herein aimed at is to secure 

 a larger crop, regardless of difference in quality or texture ; that is, to 

 change the soil conditions in such a way as to enable it to produce 

 more vegetable matter. 



WIRE-BASKET METHOD OF DETERMINING MANURIAL REQUIREMENTS. 



The two large samples of soil collected were each subjected to 

 various treatments, and the effect of the treatments ascertained by 

 growing an equal number of wheat plants on each for a period of 

 about twent} 7 -five days, or as long as favorable growth could be main- 

 tained on the limited amount of soil used for the number of plants 

 that were grown. The method of growing the plants is as follows: 



Five small wire baskets 3 inches in diameter by 3 inches in depth 

 are used for each treatment. After the soil has been treated with 

 its respective fertilizer and brought up to the optimum water con- 

 tent with distilled water, the equivalent of about 325 grams of dry 

 soil is placed in each basket. The soil is firmly packed, and six 

 germinated kernels of wheat are planted in each basket. During 

 the process of packing a small portion of the soil presses out through 

 the wire mesh, but this is brushed off and returned to the interior of 

 the basket, after which the basket is at once dipped into melted par- 

 affin, which not only forms an intimate contact with the soil, but also 

 produces a water-tight covering. An eighth to a quarter of an inch 

 of washed quartz sand is now placed over the soil of each basket and 

 its contents at once weighed and the weight recorded. In from three 

 to five days the wheat plants will have emerged from the soil and 



