484 BOARD OF AGRICULTURK. 



The entire crop upon all plats was cut Sept. 4, 1885. The 

 dry corn fodder secured from the fertilized plats averaged 5^ 

 tons per acre, and that from the unfertilized plats in this con- 

 nection yielded S^V tons for the same area. The fertilized 

 plat No. 13 produced 1,870 pounds of dried millet, or 18,700 

 pounds (9^ tons) per acre ; and the unfertilized plat No. 14 

 (for three succeeding years without manure) produced 1,050 

 pounds of air-dried crops, or 10,500 pounds (5\ tons) for a 

 corresponding area. 



The plats 11, 12, 15 and 16 (Field B), which had been seeded 

 down broadcast, during the month of September, 1884, with 

 several varieties of grasses for the purpose of studying their 

 individual nutritive character at difl'erent successive stages of 

 growth, became soon infested with all kinds of plants. As this 

 circumstance could not otherwise than quite seriously interfere 

 with our object, it was thought best to replough these plats and 

 to seed down again each variety of grass, in drills, 'i'he culti- 

 vation of grasses in drills, two feet apart, was adopted with 

 much success June 22, 1885. A frequent use of the cultivator, 

 aided by the hoe and the weeding by hand, has enabled us to 

 secure a suitable material for examination during last summer, 

 1886. 



No material changes have been made of late in the general 

 arrangement and mode of treatment of the plats in Field B, 

 beyond the addition of an area of forty-three feet in length and 

 of a corresponding width of the existing plats on the west end of 

 each individual plat. This addition makes the present length 

 of these plats 175 feet; they are each 33 feet wide (see sketch 

 of Field B in 1886). The same varieties of grasses and of 

 corn (Clark) were cultivated. The latter was also planted, in 

 place of two varieties of millets during the preceding year, in 

 plats 13 and 14. The corn was planted, as in previous years, 

 in drills three feet three inches apart; the seed was dropped, 

 from six to eight in a place, at a distance of from twelve to 

 fourteen inches apart, May 17, 1886. Plats 13, 17, 19 and 21 

 were fertilized with ground bones and potash, as in preceding 

 years, while plats 14, 18 and 20 received no manurial matter of 

 any description. The growth of the corn on fertilized and un- 

 fertilized plats presented throughout the season a similar appear- 

 ance, as has been noticed and described on previous occasions, 



