1904.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 119 



n. — The Relative Value of Muriate and High-grade 

 Sulfate of Potash. (Field B.) 



The experiments on this field are in continuation of work 

 whicli has been in progress since 1892, and I cannot do bet- 

 ter in introducing what is to be reported for this year than 

 to quote from my last annual report. The object of this 

 experiment "is to determine the relative value for different 

 crops of the two leading and cheapest i^ources of potash, 

 viz., muriate and high-grade sulfate. These salts are used 

 in equal quantities continuously upon the same land. The 

 field contains eleven plots, of approximately one-eighth of 

 an acre each. Of these, six have been yearly manured with 

 muriate of potash and five with the high-grade sulfate. 

 From 1892 to 1899 inclusive these salts were used at the 

 rate of 400 pounds per acre ; since 1900 the rate of applica- 

 tion has been 250 pounds per acre. Fine-ground bone at 

 the rate of 600 pounds per acre has been yearly applied to 

 all plots. Various crops have been grown in rotation, in- 

 cluding potatoes, field corn, sweet corn, grasses, oats and 

 vetch, barley and vetch, winter rye, clovers of various 

 kinds, sugar beets, soy beans and cabbages. Most of these 

 crops have been grown during several years. All have with 

 few exceptions given uniformly large yields. The results to 

 date may be summarized as follows : among the crops grown, 

 the potatoes, clovers, cabbages and soy beans have usually 

 done much the best on sulfate of potash ; the yield of corn, 

 grasses, oats, barley, vetches and sugar beets has been about 

 equally good on the two salts ; the quality of the potatoes 

 and sugar beets produced on the sulfate of potash plots has 

 been distinctly better than that of the crops produced on the 

 muriate of potash." 



The crops of the past year have been potatoes, cabbages, 

 onions, and soy beans, while on two plots perennial garden 

 crops and small fruits, viz., rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries 

 and blackberries have been started. The crops both of 

 onions and cabbages were practically failures ; in both cases, 

 it is believed, largely on account of the abnormally cold and 

 otherwise very unfavorable season. The onion crop through- 



