14 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 355 



growth, little is to be gained by subsequent application of magnesium salts to 

 the soil. The photographs show the advantageous effects of a 150 pound appli- 

 cation of magnesium sulfate to a magnesium deficient field. 



Tobacco grown on land deficient in magnesium was of inferior quality, having 

 poor color and very poor leaf texture. The sorting data show that both grade 

 and crop indexes were better where magnesium was applied, either alone or 

 with lime. 



Investigation with Various Winter Cover Crops for Onion Fields. (Karol J. 

 Kucinski and Walter S. Eisenmenger.) Onion growers in the Connecticut Valley do 

 not as a rule use a winter cover crop on their onion fields because it is desirable 

 to plow their fields in the fall in order to plant the onions as soon as the fields are 

 free from frost in the spring. This practice is responsible for the sheet erosion 

 and especially for the excessive dust storms which are witnessed during late fall 

 and early spring. The usual winter cover crop of rye as used on tobacco fields, 

 if seeded on an onion field, would necessitate spring plowing and thus retard the 

 early onion planting which is so desirable. 



In this investigation, buckwheat, spinach, barley, oats, spring wheat, and 

 spring rye were seeded this fall on plowed onion land in the hope of finding some 

 kind of plant, and a date and rate of seeding, which will produce a desirable winter 

 cover and yet winterkill so as not to interfere with the early planting of onions. 



Relationships of Natural Vegetation to Physico-Chemical Properties of 

 Soils in Massachusetts. (Walter S. Colvin and Walter S. Eisenmenger.) It has 

 been discerned by both ecologists and farmers that some types of vegetation on 

 land can be used as an index of the land's potentiality. Four factors were chosen 

 for investigation: plant type, soil type, water-holding capacity of soil, and pH of 

 soil, in the expectation that a relationship would be found between some of these 

 factors. 



More than 425 sites have been chosen for the investigation, and the natural 

 vegetation on these has indicated by frequency of occurrence that positive results 

 can be obtained. Abundance of certain natural growing plants occur in areas 

 where land values never have been high; and other types of plants predominate 

 where the land is valuable even in times when agriculture as a business is not an 

 exceedingly profitable enterprise. 



Investigation of Soil Erosion in Massachusetts. (Karol J. Kucinski and Walter 

 S. Eisenmenger.) It has been felt for some time that, before any study is made 

 of the ways of controlling soil erosion within the State of Massachusetts, there 

 should be a preliminary investigation to determine the extent of erosion present 

 and whether soil management practices and cropping systems now in use are 

 generally adequate for its prevention. Accordingly, considerable time was spent 

 during the past year traveling throughout the State, making careful observation 

 of the different types of soil erosion and noting in particular the causes which 

 brought it about. Many farms in practically every town in the State were visited 

 in detail and visual observations for soil erosion were relied on almost wholly. 

 Photographs of the different types of erosion were taken, and notations were 

 made as to the frequency of occurrence, type of soil, slope, area, drainage condi- 

 tions, methods of cultivation, and kind of crop grown. 



In summarizing this investigation, it was found that accelerated soil erosion, 

 which is differentiated from geological erosion beause it is brought about by the 

 action or carelessness of man, is not a major problem in the agriculture of the 

 State. It can and should be controlled. Individual cases of sheet, gully, and wind 

 erosion were found scattered everywhere within the whole State. Sheet erosion 

 was the most common form and was observed on cultivated slopes of 10 percent 



