1921.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 15 a 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

 AGRICULTURE. 



E. F. GASKILL. 



The work of the Agricultural Department during the past 

 year has progressed along the same general lines as heretofore. 

 A large part of the work has had to do with a study of different 

 phases of the problem of soil fertility, which has necessitated 

 the care and management of a large number of field plots. 

 Many of these plots have received a continuous treatment since 

 the organization of the Experiment Station in 1888, while some, 

 owing to the disappearance of certain fertilizer materials from 

 the market during the war and the scarcity of others, have 

 undergone material changes and rearrangements. Despite 

 these changes there are several significant facts brought out by 

 the crop yields of the season just past. 



Field A, or the Nitrogen Field. —Three plots on Field A (the 

 nitrogen field) gave an average crop of hay and rowen of 

 slightly more than 3,100 pounds per acre. This yield, while 

 not large, was significant in that these plots had received no 

 nitrogen in either fertilizer or manure for a period of thirty 

 years. The records on this series of plots are becoming in- 

 creasingly valuable year by year, indicating a distinct gain of 

 nitrogen through the growth of leguminous crops. Another 

 record from this field of more than incidental value is the fact 

 that although a mixture of grasses and clovers was sown last 

 year, this year's crop was practically free of clovers except on 

 the no-nitrogen plots. Once again the fact that large amounts 

 of commercial nitrogen are somewhat antagonistic to the 

 growth of clovers is strikingly demonstrated. 



TJie Response of Cro2)s to Potash. — The response of crops to 

 potash when used on different types of soil is brought out by a 



