ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 245 



under and 500 pounds of guano sown broadcast after plowing. Num- 

 ber five was fertilized with stable manure at the rate of 30 tons per 

 acre plowed under and 500 pounds of fish guano per acre scattered 

 broadcast after plowing. Number six was not fertilized. May 22 all 

 of these plats were seeded broadcast with Finnish Black oats (the station 

 does not own a grain drill). On June 7 all plats were up and showed 

 no appreciable difference in color or growth. On June 15 there was 

 a decided difference in the appearance of the plats. They ranked as 

 follows in order from the best to the poorest: First, manure and guano; 

 second, seaweed and guano; third, manure; fourth, seaweed; fifth, 

 guano, and sixth, nothing. The manure and guano plat made the best 

 showing. The growth was 4 inches high. From this the plats ranged 

 down to an inch and a half. July 1 the several plats still ranked in 

 the same order. The manure and guano plat has an excellent stand; 

 the oats are very even and 10 inches high. The seaweed and guano 

 plat is not quite so good; the stand is somewhat uneven and the growth 

 9 inches high. The same ratio holds good for the others, except the 

 plat with no fertilizer. Here the crop is but 3 inches high and begin- 

 ning to turn yellow. 



July 18 the same rank was still maintained for the several plats. 

 The plat fertilized with manure and guano was the best, the crop even 

 and 2 feet high. The plat without any fertilizer was the poorest; the 

 crop was uneven — in places entirely dead — and the best only 5 inches 

 high. August 1 the same rank was still maintained. The height of 

 the crop on the several plats was as follows: Manure and guano, 40 

 inches; seaweed and guano, 36 inches; manure (only), 30 inches; sea- 

 weed (only), 20 inches; guano (only), 20 inches. No fertilizer had by 

 this time a very poor stand, and the best plants were only 12 inches 

 high. 



August 15 the fertilized plats ranked as before; all were in bloom, 

 and the oats were lodging in spots. All the manured plats exhibited 

 the characteristics noted in the description of the variety test referred 

 to above, namely, that of sprouting from the roots. The storms which 

 set in about this period beat the grain down. The earliest heads lodged 

 and did not fill well. By September 10 some of it was ripe, but it 

 would have been difficult to gather the ripe grain from the green suck- 

 ers, and it was therefore left to be cut for hay. But almost incessant 

 rain during September and October made it impossible to cure hay, and 

 the plats were therefore not cut until November 1. When dry enough 

 to be weighed the yield of hay for the several plats was at the follow- 

 ing rates per acre: Plat fertilized with stable manure and guano 

 yielded 1.67 tons; manured with seaweed and guano, 1.63 tons; fer- 

 tilized with stable manure only, 0.8 ton; fertilized with seaweed only, 

 0.6 ton; with guano only, 0.6 ton, and with no fertilizer, nothing — 

 only a few pounds. 



