92 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 204. 



The crop of 1915 was produced under similar conditions. The plots 

 were seeded in the spring of 1914 with oats as a nurse crop. The soil had 

 been heavilj^ limed in 1913 on the east half of the plots, but the west half 

 had received none since 1905. The clover was sown in a mixture with 

 redtop and timothy. After the oats were cut the rainfall was sufficient 

 to start the clover promptly, and it grew faster than the timotlay and 

 redtop except on the unlimed parts of the sulfate of ammonia plots, where 

 redtop became the principal crop. No cutting was made that season, 

 and the clover and redtop wintered in perfect condition. The two halves, 

 of each plot were harvested and weighed separately. On the unlimed 

 half the clover without nitrogen outyielded the redtop with sulfate of 

 ammonia, but on the limed half the sulfate of ammonia produced about 

 10 per cent more clover than was produced without it. The rainfall was 

 well distributed during the growing periods of 1899 and 1915. 



Four of the clover crops, consisting of alsike clover, were grown in four 

 successive years (1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910) as annual crops. The first 

 crop was sown in the corn in the summer of 1906. It did not winter 

 satisfactorily, and after the hay had been removed in 1907 the land was 

 plowed and reseeded with clover. Conditions repeated themselves in 

 1908 and again in 1909. In no season was there a good stand of alsike 

 clover, but the vacant spaces filled up with weeds or volunteer grasses. 

 The rainfall in 1906 and 1907 was normal; in 1908, 1909 and 19]'0 it 

 was continuously below normal, but in general was well distributed, and 

 the soil grew steadily drier. The crop of 1909 was from one-fourth to 

 one-half weeds by actual weights. It was the only year of the four in 

 which the plots receiving sulfate of ammonia considerably exceeded in 

 yield those without nitrogen. In the fall of 1909 the east half of the 

 plots was top-dressed with hj^drated lime, and in 1910 the crop con- 

 sisted of much more timothy than clover, with a slight gain on the 



ammonia. 



Table VII. — Average Yield of Hay {Pounds per Acre). 



1 Lime applied in 1898 and 1905 over whole area. 



2 Lime applied in the fall of 1909 and in 1913 over half area. 



Japanese Barnyard Millet. — This has been grown twice and the two 

 crops have been produced under quite different conditions. The first 

 crop was grown in 1913 and followed two successive corn crops. The 

 soil had been limed on the east half of the plots in 1909 and 1913. The 



