672 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Plat No. 16 (unfertilized), . . \ ^^^i^^^^y ("^^h side). 



( Redtop (south side). 



Plats No. 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 were planted with corn (Clark). 



2555. — During the year 1885, Plats No. 17, 18, 19, 20 

 and 21 served again, as in previous years, for the cultivation 

 of corn. The entire crop upon all plats was cut Sept. 4, 

 1885. The dry corn fodder secured from the fertilized plats 

 averaged 5^ tons per acre, and that from the unfertilized 

 plats yielded 3J^ tons for the same area. The fertilized 

 Plat No. 13 produced 1,870 pounds of dried millet, or 

 18,700 pounds (9^ tons) per acre; and the unfertilized Plat 

 No. 14 (for three succeeding years without manure) pro- 

 duced 1,050 pounds of air-dried crops, or 10,500 pounds 

 (5\ tons) for a corresponding area. 



The Plats 11, 12, 15 and 16 (Field B), which had been 

 seeded down broadcast during the month of September, 

 1884, with several varieties of grasses, for the purpose of 

 studying their individual nutritive character at different suc- 

 cessive stages of growth, soon became infested with all kinds 

 of plants. As this circumstance could not otherwise than 

 quite seriously interfere with our object, it was thought best 

 to re-plough these plats, and to seed doivn again each variety 

 of grass, in drills. The cultivation of grasses in drills, two 

 feet apart, was adopted with much success, June 22, 1885. 

 A frequent use of the cultivator, aided by the hoe and hand- 

 weeding, has enabled us to secure, as far as practicable, a 

 clean growth. 



1886. — No material change was made in the general ar- 

 rangement and mode of treatment of the plats in Field B, 

 beyond the addition, on the west end of each plat, of an 

 area forty-three feet in length, and a width corresponding to 

 that of the existing plats. This addition makes the present 

 length of these plats 175 feet ;' they are each 33 feet wide. 



The same varieties of grasses and of corn (Clark) were 

 cultivated. The latter was also planted, in place of two 

 varieties of millets, cultivated during the preceding year, in 

 Plats 13 and 14. The corn was planted, as in previous 

 years, in drills three feet three inches apart ; the seed was 

 dropped, from six to eight in a place, at a distance of from 



