32 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



and did not indicate greater residual fertility where spring ap- 

 plication of manure has been the rule than in the other plots. 



X. — Experiment in the application of nitrate of soda for 

 rowen. Owing to the deficiency of rainfall in the latter part 

 of July and August, the rowen crop this year was small. The 

 increase in crop resulting from the application of nitrate was 

 not sufficient on the average to repay the cost of application. 



XL — Experiments in feeding hens. These indicate the 

 great value of animal protein and fat and the injurious influence 

 of fibre in the ration. 



I. — Manuees and Fertilizers furnishing Nitrogen com- 

 pared. (Field A.) 



The materials under comparison in this experiment, all of 

 which are used in such quantities as to furnish equal nitrogen 

 per plot, are barnyard manure, nitrate of soda, sulfate of am- 

 monia and dried blood. The field includes eleven plots, of 

 one-tenth acre each, and, with few and unimportant exceptions, 

 each plot has been manured in the same way since 1890. Each 

 receives equal and li))cral amounts of phos})horic acid and potash, 

 the former in the form of dissolved ])one black, the latter in the 

 form of muriate, to plots 1, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and in the form 

 of low-grade sulfate to plots 2, 4, 5 and 10. Three plots have 

 had no nitrogen applied to them in any form since 1884. The 

 various materials are used on the other plots in such quantities 

 as to furnish nitrogen at the rate of 45 pounds per acre. Barn- 

 yard manure is applied to one plot, nitrate of soda to two, sul- 

 fate of ammonia to tliree and dried blood to two. 



From a period very early in the history of this experiment, 

 the plots to which sulfate of ammonia has been applied have 

 shown a tendency to comparative unproductiveness, due appar- 

 ently to unfavorable chemical or biological conditions. It was 

 thought probable that application of lime would correct tliese 

 faulty conditions, and 50 pounds of unslaked lime were applied 

 to plot 6 in 1896. The entire field has been twice limed (in 

 1898 and 1905) since that date, at the rate of about 1 ton to 

 the acre. In spite of these ai)i)lications, the yield on the sul- 

 fate of ammonia plots, as will be noted, is still much l>elow the 

 average of the other plots. 



The crops gi'own in this experiment previous to this year in 



