8 MASS. EXI'EHLMEXT STATION Hl'LLETIX 281 



EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE 

 MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIMENT STATION 



Early Experiments 



As previously stated, the first formal experiment in top-dressing permanent 

 pastures established by the Massachusetts Experiment Station was started on 

 the Dickinson Pasture in 1909. The soil is a fine sandy loam of alluvial formation, 

 level and quite free of stones. At the time the experiment was started the pasture 

 was in a low state of fertility as judged by the amount and character of the 

 growth, which consisted of poor pasture grasses and a thick growth of bluets 

 {HoHstonia caerulea L.). Bluets are among th^ first weeds to appear in pastures 

 low in lime and other nutrients. 



In this experiment there were four plots of \'s acre each, two of which, plots 

 2 and 4, were unfertilized. Plots 1 and 3 received 500 pounds basic slag (14.5- 

 17.1% P0O5) and 300 pounds low-grade sulfate of potash (24.8-28.4% K,0) to 

 the acre in each of the years 1909, '10, '11 and "12. The same treatment was 

 given plot 1 but not plot 3 in 1913, '14 and '15. The principal experiment was 

 discontinued in 1916 due to difficulty in obtaining potash. X"o quantitative meas- 

 urements were made of the results of this experiment, but a very good account 

 of the qualitative results is given in notes taken. In the latter part of the season 

 of 1910 it was noted that white clover was coming in on the fertilized plots and 

 the bluets were disappearing. There was no white clover on the unfertilized 

 plots. In May, 1911, it was noted that the bluets had practically all disappeared 

 from the fertilized plots and the growth was nearly all white clover. Notes for 

 the years 1912-15 read very much like those of 1911. A photograph of the fer- 

 tilized and unfertilized plots (1 and 2) shows the effect of fertilizers in eliminating 

 bluets. (Fig. 2j. 



In 1915 two new .series of fertilizer plots were laid out on the Dickinson pas- 

 ture, one to determine the effect of different forms of lime when used with potash; 

 the other to determine the effect of varying amounts of l)asic slag and muriate 

 of potash. Owing to difficulties encountered in securing fertilizer materials dur- 

 ing the World War pei'iod these experiments were not continued. However, 

 notes made the latter part of the summer show that some change was made in 

 the character of the growth the same season the fertilizers were applied. The 

 greatest improvement was coincident with the heaviest applications of slag and 

 potash. 



Experiments in the Period 1921-30 



The first of these experiments was started l\v Sidney B. Haskell' in the 

 spring of 1921, and was followed by several others in the [)eriod 1921-30. Three 

 of the.se experiments are reported in this bulletin. 



Experiments A and B were situatetl on jjrojjerty Ix^longing to the Experiment 

 Station and known as the Tillson Farm: experiment C on quite similar soil and 

 topography on a near-by farm. The soil of experiments A and B is a glacial till 

 clas.sified by the I'. S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils as belonging to the Cheshire 

 series. This series is very similar to the Gloucester series so extensive and im- 

 portant as pasture soils in Worcester and other counties of the State, and iliffers 



Formerly director of the M:i.ss.iohusptts Kxporimcnt .Station. A. \. Osiriun of the rjotany 

 Deijartment was associated with Director Haskell in the early years of the experiment. A. B. 

 Beaumont took chareo of the project in 1928. E. F. Gaskill has supervised the field work through- 

 out the period. 



