296 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



and 100 pounds of acid phosphate, mixed and scattered and harrowed in 

 with the oats, lihe peas, fertilized with 50 pounds of acid phosphate and 

 50 pounds of kainit. The pea, being a nitrogen gatherer, no nitrogen was 

 applied additionally. The cotton was fertilized with the Station's compost 

 for cotton, consisting of: One ton of acid phosphate; 100 bushels of stable 

 manure; 100 bushels of green cotton seed: built in the following proportions: 

 First layer, 5 bushels of stable manure; second layer, 5 bushels of cotton seed; 

 third layer, 100 pounds of acid phosphate, etc. The cotton seed is made 

 perfectly wet before spreading. The corn received the compost for corn, 

 the ingredients the same as above, the proportion only being different, being 

 one ton acid phosphate ; 200 bushels of stable manure ; 200 bushels of cotton 

 seed, built as above, except proportion of 50 pounds of acid phosphate, 5 

 bushels of manure, and 5 bushels of seed. The cultivation of the above plats, 

 for this year, was as follows : For corn, plat A, land was broken with three- 

 mule disc plow, 8 inches deep in February. Rows marked off four feet apart 

 and compost applied in the furrows at rate of 30 bushels per acre. A flat 

 list was made on this and corn planted March 31st. At last cultivation peas 

 at rate of two bushels per acre were sown broadcast. For oats followed by 

 peas, the land was deeply plowed in October and the fertilizer named was 

 scattered, and two and a half bushels of oats per acre harrowed in with it. 

 After the oats were harvested peas were planted in rows, one bushel per acre, 

 with the fertilizer named. For cotton the pea stubble was plowed in Febru- 

 ary and manured with compost. A careful study of the results of this rota- 

 tion experiment will convince the most skeptical Tanner of the wisdom of the 

 system. The fertilized half has been built up 400 to 500 per cent, in eleven 

 years, while that without fertilizer has gained twelve to twenty-five per cent. 

 It should be the aim of every farmer to so handle his land as to make it grow 

 richer instead of poorer. By this system it can be done, and at the same time 

 getting better crops and profits. It is of special interest to note that the plat 

 on which no fertilizers were used, in 1889 made seven and a half bushels of 

 oats per acre, and 4.22 tons of green pea vines ; the second year after, when it 

 came again in oats, made 25.5 bushels oats, 816 pounds of straw, 24 tons of 

 pea vines, the increase being simply due to the rotation and the peas. 



An examination of the results will show the immense advantages to be 

 derived from the moderate use of the proper fertilizers in the rotation. 

 Incidentally it may be observed that each bushel of corn will give about 70 

 pounds of stover, which, when cured, is a most excellent forage for cattle, 

 sheep and horses. The report would have been far more valuable and exact 

 if the result from the use of fertilizers on each plat had been given as com- 

 pared with the corresponding unfertilized plat and the cost of the gain com- 



