114 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



FIELD EXPERIMEN^TS. 



[Field A.] 



1. Fodder Corn raised upon Underdrained Lands, 



PARTLY FERTILIZED WITH SiNGLE ARTICLES OF PlANT 



Food, partly without the use of any Manurial 

 Matter. 



The field utilized for this experiment consists of ten ad- 

 joining plats, one-tenth of one acre each in size. The plats 

 are five feet apart ; the grounds between them are kept free 

 from any growth, and receive no fertilizing ingredients of 

 any description. 



The entire field is surrounded by a tile drain, and each plat 

 has a separate one through its centre. This terminates at 

 its east end in a well which is connected with the surround- 

 ing drain. 



The land was used, for several years previous to the estab- 

 lishment of the Experiment Station, in 1882, as a meadow 

 for the production of hay. During the spring of 1883 it 

 was planted with corn, for fodder corn, without the use of 

 any fertilizer. 



The same course of planting and cultivation was carried 

 out during 1884, for the purpose of exhausting the soil, as 

 far as practicable, for a remunerative cultivation of corn. 



The crop raised in 1884 upon these plats of unmanured 

 land left no doubt concerning their exhausted condition, as 

 far as further successful cultivation of corn was concerned ; 

 for the entire yield of corn fodder "^mounted to 5,040 pounds, 

 with a moisture of thirty per cent. 



This condition of the soil encouraged the beginning of a 

 special inquiry into the chemical and physical condition of 

 our soil, as far as its relation to the j^roduction of the corn 

 crop IS concerned. With that end in view, the following 



