1896.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 31 



v. manure and potash, hills, stover, 4,024 pounds : grain, 60.7 

 bushels; drills, stover, 5,180 pounds; grain, 57.3 bushels; 

 " special" v. fertilizer richer in potash, hills, stover, 4,116 

 pounds; grain, 60.3 bushels; drills, stover, 4,582 pounds; 

 grain, 54.2 bushels. Averaging both experiments, the drill 

 system produced the more valuable total crop. 



WJiite mustard as a crop for nitrogen conservation has been 

 sown on one-half of the acre of corn where manure alone is 

 compared with manure and potash every year since 1892. 

 The mustard seed is sown in the standing corn in July, at 

 the rate of 24 pounds per acre. Its growth from year to 

 year has varied greatly, as in very dry seasons it does not 

 start well. The past two seasons the growth has been light. 

 It is ploughed in late in the fall. The beneficial effect is 

 apparent, and is doubtless largely due to the fact that the 

 mustard, which grows till very late in the season, prevents 

 in a measure the loss of soluble nitrogen compounds by 

 leaching. It acts as a nitrogen conserver. The averages 

 this year per acre are as follows : with white mustard as a 

 green manure, stover, 4,828 pounds; grain, 61.7 bushels; 

 without the mustard, stover, 4,376 pounds; grain, 56.3 

 bushels. Gain by green manuring, stover, 452 pounds; 

 grain, 5.4 bushels. 



Japanese Millets. 



Pan icum crus-galli. 



The Japanese millet of this species, which I propose to 

 call " barn-yard " millet, because it is of the same species 

 as the common barn-yard grass, has been very thoroughly 

 tried the past year, for seed, for green fodder and for hay. 



For Seed. — For seed purposes we raised about three- 

 quarters of an acre. The land, in very moderate fertility, 

 Mas manured at the rate of 6 cords per acre of good manure 

 in December, 1894, and aiter ploughing this spring the fol- 

 lowing materials per acre Mere spread on (mixed) and har- 

 rowed in : nitrate of soda, 100 pounds ; dissolved bone-black, 

 200 pounds ; and muriate of potash, 100 pounds. The seed 

 was put in with a small seed sower, in drills fifteen inches 

 apart. It was wheel-hoed, and kept free from weeds. The 



