36 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The area of the plots is about one-eighth of an acre each. 

 The fertilizers used supply at the rates per acre : phosphoric 

 acid, 50.4 pounds ; nitrogen, 60 pounds; potash, 120 pounds. 

 For purposes of comparison, I quote from my last annual 

 report : — 



Conclusions based on Results up to 1897. {Fertilizers Alone.) 

 The chief conclusions which seemed justified by the results with 

 fertilizers alone are the following : — 



1. Sulfate of potash in connection with nitrate of soda (plot 5) 

 has generally given the best crop. In those cases where this has 

 not been true, the inferiority of this combination has usually been 

 small. In one case only has it fallen much behind, viz., with 

 sweet corn, a crop which makes much of its growth in the latter 

 part of the season. 



2. Nitrate of soda (plots 2 and 5) has in almost every instance 

 proved the most valuable source of nitrogen, whether used with 

 the muriate or the sulfate of potash. 



3. The combination of sulfate of ammonia and muriate of pot- 

 ash (plot 1) has in every instance given the poorest crop. This 

 fact is apparently due, as Dr. Goessmann has pointed out, to an 

 interchange of acids and bases leading to the formation of chloride 

 of ammonia, which injuriously affects growth. 



The Experiment in 1899. 



The crops on each plot this year included the following : 

 fruiting strawberries, celery (following the strawberries), 

 cabbages, squashes, spinach, lettuce, table beets, onions and 

 freshly set strawberries. Both manure and fertilizers were 

 spread on after ploughing this spring and harrowed in. 



Slraivberries : — The vines of the fruiting beds were set 

 in the spring of 1898. They all made good growth, but 

 were somewhat winter-killed, apparently because covered 

 rather too heavily. The injury was not very materially 

 different on the different plots, but was judged to have been 

 somewhat most serious on plots and 2 and least on plot 4. 

 Picking began on June 15 and ended on July 12. Plot 

 (manure alone) much exceeded the others in yield of ripe 

 fruit at first, and in aggregate yield was excelled by but two 

 of the plots. The total yields in pounds per plot were as 

 follows: plot 0, 126.6 pounds; plot 1, 94.7 pounds; plot 



