13 



The average increases per acre over the nothing plats, which served 

 as a basis of comparison, were as follows : — 



For the fertilizer : First cutting, 2,115 pounds ; rowen, 334 pounds. 

 For the manure : First cutting, 1,650 pounds ; rowen, 605 pounds. 



The fertilizers applied cost from $12 to $13 per acre, and gave 

 a total increase of 2,449 pounds of hay. The manure, if pur- 

 chased and applied, would have cost $18 per acre, and it produced 

 a total increase of 2,255 pounds of hay. It should be remembered 

 in drawing conclusions that these plats have respectively been re- 

 ceiving manure and fertilizer for four years. This year, as in 

 previous ones, the fertilizers have given the more profitable in- 

 crease in the crop. 



We have established a grass garden which contains all the lead- 

 ing varieties of grasses and clovers. We have made extensive 

 collections of both fresh and salt marsh grasses and sedges ; and 

 also a large collection of the seeds of weeds commonly found in 

 mowings, with a view to future experiments. 



During tlie early spring an experiment was begun with eight 

 cows, divided into two lots of four each, to test the relative value 

 of cotton-seed meal and soya-bean meal as food in a well-balanced 

 ration for milch cows. The experiment continued six weeks in 

 two periods of three weeks each, the yield of the last two weeks 

 of each period only being counted. Omitting all details, the lead- 

 ing results are the following : — 



1. The cows on the soya-beau meal gave rather the most milk. 



2. The cotton-seed meal gave more spaces of cream as read in 

 the Cooley can. 



3. This cream, when cotton-seed meal was fed, was much more 

 dilute than when soya-bean meal was fed, the line of demarkation 

 being much less perfectly defined. 



4. Chemical analyses showed the cream from the cows fed on 

 soya-bean meal to be the richer, the figures being : Soya-bean 

 cream, butter fat, 17.83 per cent; cotton-seed meal cream, butter 

 fat, 17.09 per cent. 



5. To make one pound of butter required on the average 7.27 

 spaces of cotton-seed cream and 6.27 spaces soya-bean cream. 



6. The cotton-seed butter was of firmer texture than the other, 

 but was, by the verdict of three families working independently 

 and without knowledge of the nature of the difference between the 



