228 AGRICULTUKAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



They were sown in rows running along the sloping grounds 

 from north to south, to secure favorable conditions for an 

 advantageous and liberal use of a horse cultivator in the 

 interest of clean cultivation. 



The crops raised during that season showed a fairly uni- 

 form state of productiveness of the entire field here under 

 discussion. 



1889. — The field experiments with different manures, 

 which are the special subject of this chapter, began during 

 the spring of that year. 



The lands previously described are divided by a grass road 

 into two parts, a north and a south field. The former 

 occupies a space of from five to six acres and the latter three 

 to four acres. Each of these fields, running from north to 

 south, was subsequently subdivided into five plats, which were 

 kept separate from each other by a space of land fourteen 

 feet wide, running along the entire length of each plat from 

 east to west. The spaces between adjoining plats were 

 cultivated and planted in connection with the main plats. 

 They received, however, at no time manure of any descrip- 

 tion during the entire experiment. 



Tlie crops selected for the experiment were in all cases 

 planted in the same manner across the five plats set apart 

 for the observation. They occupied in every case, as far as 

 the same crops are concerned, the same area. The mechan- 

 ical preparation of the soil was alike in case of the same crop ; 

 the same statement applies to the special treatment, as culti- 

 vating, etc., during the growing season, and to the mode of 

 harvesting. 



The difference in the treatment of the five plats was entirely 

 confined to a different mode of supplying plant food to the 

 crops raised; each p)lat was treated year after year in the 

 following manner (1889 to 1894) : — 



Fertilizer applied Each Year from 1889 to 1894. 



Plat 1. — Home-made mixed barn-yard manure, 18,000 pounds 

 (rate of 10 tons per acre). 



Plat 11. — Wood ashes, 1,800 pounds (rate of 1 ton per acre). 

 Plat 111. — No fertilizer. 



