16(i 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



66.29 bushels of shelled corn and 1.93 tons of stover per 

 acre. 



In striking contrast to these results stand those for the 

 years 1897 and 1900 in the second course of the rotation, 

 upon plots 18 and 20, respectively. In this instance the ^ 

 yields of shelled corn amounted to 89.36 and 85.93 bushels 

 per acre, and of stover to 3.23 and 3.14 tons per acre. 



It is quite possible that an important factor in increasing 

 the crops of the second course was the lime which had been 

 applied to plots 18,22 and 24 in the interim. This is further 

 indicated to some extent by the fact that Plot 20, which gave 

 the greatest yield in the first course, had been limed just 

 previously, while the other three plots had not. Liming 

 has been found, in the course of many experiments, to favor 

 the transformation of nitrogen in organic matter into nitrates ; 

 it also appears, in sour soils, to prevent the destruction of 

 nitrates, to improve materially the physical character of the 

 soil and to render certain phosphates soluble. 



BeloAV is given a comparison of the potato crops of the 

 four-year rotation in the first course, and also in the first two 

 years of the second course of the rotation, in bushels of tubers 



per acre : — 



First Course of Rotation. 



Second Course of Rotation. 



