44 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



FIELD EXPEEIMENTS. 



C. A. GOESSMANN. 



I. 



Fodder Corn raised upon underdrained and exhausted 

 Lands, partly Fertilized with Single Articles of 

 Plant Food, partly without the use of any Manu- 

 RiAL Matter. 



[See Sketch A.] 



The land turned to account for the experiment extended 

 over an area of one and one-tenth acres, which was subdi- 

 vided into eleven plats of an equal size, one-tenth of an 

 acre each. It had served, for several years previous to the 

 establishment of the Experiment Station in 1882, as a 

 meadow for the production of hay. During the spring of 

 1883 it was underdrained, and subsequently planted with corn 

 (Longfellow variety), for fodder corn, without the use of 

 any fertilizer. . The same course of planting and cultivation 

 was carried out during; 1884, chang-ino; from the Lono:fellow 

 to the Clark variety of corn, for the purpose of exhausting 

 the soil, as far as practicable, for the successful cultivation of 

 corn. 



The entire area (A) was separated by tile drain from the 

 surrounding lands ; each plat had, through its whole length 

 (from west to east), in the centre, a separate tile drain, ter- 

 minating on the east end, and communicating here, by means 

 of a well, with a lower main drain, to permit, whenever 

 desirable, a separate collection of samples of drainage waters 

 from each individual plat for a subsequent chemical exam- 

 ination. This system of underdraining was to serve, in the 

 progress of our work, for an inquiry into the retentive quality 

 of our soil with reference to various articles of plant food. 



As the corn crop raised in 1884 upon these eleven plats of 

 unmanured lands had left no doubt about their exhausted 



