A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE YIELD OF POTATOES 1193 



of drilling. Woods concluded that nothing is to be gained by the practice 

 commonly followed in Maine, of applying some fertilizer along the row 

 at the first cultivation, for this method is less convenient and apparently 

 no more efficient than applying all the fertilizer in the row at planting time. 



Much variation in the method of applying fertilizer has been observed 

 in the surveyed areas. Wherever machine planters were used, the ferti- 

 lizer was generally applied with these. On Long Island, however, where 

 98 per cent of. the crop was planted by machine, nearly forty per cent of the 

 growers applied the fertilizer broadcast, using a grain drill or a lime sower 

 before planting. Tables included in the study of this factor show that 

 most of the fertilizer not applied thru the planter was applied broadcast 

 before planting. Generally this means an application only a few days 

 prior to planting the crop. 



Without exception, on Long Island a higher average yield resulted from 

 the broadcasting of fertilizer before planting (table 29). This difference in 

 favor of broadcasting is in part due to the greater quantity of seed usually 

 planted when this method is used. But the difference is sufficient to be 

 significant. Furthermore, the growers in the first fertilizer group who 

 broadcast the fertilizer, used less seed than did those who applied the 

 fertilizer in the drill row. Apparently the average of nearly a ton of 

 fertilizer per acre used in this region in 1912, was more efficient when broad- 

 cast than when drilled. 



There are rather too few farms included in each of the groups for Steuben 

 County (table 30) to aUow any definite conclusions to be drawn. The 

 differences in yield apparently due to difference in the method of fertilizer 

 application, are all probably due mainly to the indicated difference in the 

 amount of seed planted. This leads to the conclusion that. for Steuben 

 County, when as little as the average of 270 pounds of fertilizer per acre 

 is used, it is fully as efficient to apply it all in the drill row as to broadcast 

 it either just before or just after planting. 



Altho the differences in yield between the two methods employed in 

 Monroe County were small, they are consistent thruout (table 31). 

 Usually, less seed was planted per acre by .those broadcasting fertilizer 

 before planting than was used by those in the other group, yet the yields 

 favor the method of broadcasting. The writer is unable to reconcile 

 this conclusion with that for Steuben County. Whether the exception 

 here favoring broadcasting when an average of only 406 pounds of fertilizer 

 per acre was used, is due to seasonal rainfall conditions, is purely conjecture 

 which can be settled only by controlled experiments over a protracted 

 period. 



A study of table 32, weighing the influence of the amount of seed and the 

 value of the fertilizer used in Franklin and Clinton Counties, indicates 

 that here, as in Monroe County, the broadcasting of the fertilizer proved 

 more efficient in 1913 than the application of it in the drill row. It is of 



