32 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



bination (4 cords of manure and 160 pounds muriate of 

 potash) costs $1).40 per acre less than the 6 cords of manure, 

 the advantage is decisively in favor of the combination. 



VI. — Experiment in the Application of Manure. 



This experiment was begun in 1899, and is to be continued 

 for a series of years. It is designed to throw light upon the 

 question as to whether it is economically good policy to 

 spread manure during the late fall and winter and allow it to 

 remain on the surface until spring before plowing under. 

 This method of application is compared Avith the plan of 

 haulins: manure from the stable to the field durino- the winter 

 and putting it into large compact heaps, from which it is 

 hauled and spread just before plowing in spring. The field 

 in which this experiment is tried slopes moderately to the 

 west. In further description I quote from the seventeenth 

 annual report : — 



To insure even quality of the manure used in the two systems, 

 it is our practice to manure two plots at one time, putting the 

 loads of manure as hauled to the field alternately upon the two, 

 in the one case spreading, but in the other putting a sufficient 

 number of loads to provide for the entire plot into one large 

 heap. We are using in this experiment five large plots, each 

 of which is subdivided into two subplots. For one of these 

 subplots the manure is spread when hauled out, for the other it 

 is put into a large heap. The area of these subplots is about 

 one-quarter of an acre, and to each the amount of manure ap- 

 plied is 11,096 pounds. The manure from well-fed milch cows 

 is used upon eight subplots, and horse niiinure on two. The 

 manirre used in this experiment is applied at different dates 

 during the winter, our practice being to allow the manure to 

 accumulate in the pits from whicli it is taken until there is a 

 sufficient quantity for at least two subplots. The condition of 

 the soil at the time of application and the nature of the weather 

 wliich follows must necessarily differ in tlic different experi- 

 ments; and these differences, together witli the difference in 

 the dates of application above referred to, no doubt in a measure 

 account for the variation in tlie results of the two systems 

 noticed on tlic different pilots. 



