No. 4.] WORK OF COLLEGE AND STATION. 205 



ments, each occupying an acre of ground. Eight of these 

 have been carried out upon our own grounds and thirty 

 upon farms in the difterent counties of tlie State. Twenty- 

 four of these experiments have been with corn, with which 

 crop we began our work ; six have been with potatoes ; six 

 with oats, with which mixed grass and clover seeds have 

 been sown ; and two with mixed grass and clover. 



Besides these, we have prepared fertilizers for, and exer- 

 cised more or less oversight over, a large number of experi- 

 ments of the same character, most of which have been with 

 corn. The leading o]>ject in all these experiments has been 

 to determine the fertilizer requirements of the different soils 

 for these crops. 



Omitting all details, I may say that the results of our 

 work with corn have been quite decisive. They indicate 

 that for this crop potash should be far more generally and 

 liberally employed. Special corn fertilizers do not as a rule 

 contain this element in sufficient amount. To o-et enouah 

 potash when using these we must apply more phosphoric 

 acid and nitrogen than the crop needs. It will pay to com- 

 bine potash with them. Our experiments also indicate that 

 with ordinary farm or stable manure it will pay to use some 

 potash, and for the corn crop the muriate is the cheapest 

 form. 



For potatoes the results are of the same general character, 

 but less decisive. In these experiments the muriate was 

 the source of the potash used. The results of special ex- 

 periments tried this year for the purpose of comparing the 

 sulphate and the muriate of potash for this crop have shown 

 decided differences both in yield and quality in favor of the 

 sulphate ; and I believe, had this salt been used in place of 

 the muriate in our soil-test work with potatoes, the results 

 would have been more decisively in favor of the potash. 

 Special potato fertilizers are as a rule too poor in this 

 element. 



With oats our results have been different, and when it is 

 remembered that the experiments with this crop have been 

 tried upon the very fields where corn and potatoes gave the 

 largest increase with potash, this fact is the more striking. 

 This crop responds most freely to an application of nitrogen 

 in the form of nitrate of soda. 



