156 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



II. Influence of Fertilizers on the Quantity and 

 Quality of Prominent Fodder Crops. (Field B.) 



The field is located west of Field A, and has been used, 

 like the latter, for several years previous to the establish- 

 ment of the experiment station, for the production of hay. 

 The land is nearly on a level, and runs from north to south ; 

 it occupies at the present time an area of 1.7 acres. The 

 soil consists of a somewhat sandy loam. In 1884 the entire 

 field was subdivided into eleven plats of equal size, with 

 five feet of space between them. Every alternate plat has 

 received from that date annually the same kind and the same 

 amount of fertilizer, — six^hundred pounds of ground bones, 

 and two hundred pounds of muriate of potash per acre. 

 Since 1885 all crops on that field have been raised in rows ; 

 this system of cultivation became a necessity in the case of 

 grasses, clovers, etc., to secure a clean crop for observation. 

 The rows, in the case of corn and leguminous plants, were 

 three feet and three inches apart ; and, in the case of grasses, 

 two feet. The space between the dift'erent plats has received, 

 thus far, no manurial substance of any description, and is 

 kept clean from vegetation by a proper use of the cultivator. 

 Plats 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 were fertilized annually; 

 plats 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 have received no fertilizer until 

 the present season, — 1889. 



The details of the work carried on upon Field B are from 

 year to year recorded in the annual report of the station. As 

 the chemical analyses of the crops raised recjuire considerable 

 time, on account of other contemporary pressing . engage- 

 ments in the laboratory, they are usually published in 

 bulletins, and the reports of the succeeding year. 



The subsequent tabular statement of crops raised upon the 

 different plats of Field B since 1886 may assist in a desirable 

 understanding of its late history, and its condition at the 

 beginning of the season of 1889. The single plats are, since 

 1886, each 175 feet long and 33 feet wide. 



