8 



for securing a fair sample. These suggestions were adopted by 

 Mr. Roddenbery, and later arrangements were made, after the money 

 appropriated by Congress became available, to send a special agent to 

 Cairo for the purpose of assisting in the harvesting and weighing of 

 the crops and in securing samples for analysis. 



AGRICULTURAL DATA. 



The two fields finally selected for this experiment are designated as 

 A and B. The soil is a sandy loam, with clay subsoil and of low fer- 

 tility, being fairly representative of the soils of that section. In the 

 growth of all standard crops in this locality where large and profitable 

 yields are desired, fertilizers are universally applied. The water 

 supplv is usually sufficient and the water comes near the surface. The 

 season, taken as a whole, was a favorable one and the tonnage proba- 

 blv better than the average. Each field was To yards wide and 140 

 yards long, and was divided into 1>4 plats, each consisting of four rows 

 4 feet apart. The fertili/er was applied only to the three rows, the 

 fourth row being unfertilized as a cheek between the plats. 



Field A is situated in the middle of a 15-aere field of sugar cane 

 and was thus subjected to the ordinary conditions of growth. This 

 lield has been in cultivation about twenty years and is in a low state 

 of fertility, and most of the available plant food was supplied by the 

 fertilizer. The field was planted to sweet potatoes in 1901, was plowed 

 with a two-horse disk plow in January, 190:i, and again plowed just 

 before the cane was planted. On April 3, Field A was planted with 

 stubble cane cut short and placed end to end in the row. 



Field I) is situated in the middle of a 25-acre field of sugar cane one- 

 half mile distant from Field A. The soil is similar in every r-'spect 

 to Field A, but has been in cultivation only five or six years and is in 

 a much higher state of fertility than Field A. Field B was planted to 

 velvet beans in 1901 and a very rank growth of these beans was plowed 

 under in the autumn of 1901, the field being again plowed just before 

 the cane was planted, namely, on April 4. Stubble cane was also used 

 for this field, which was planted in the same manner as Field A. No 

 special cultivation was given the experimental plats, but they received 

 exactly the same attention as the whole field in which they were 

 situated. 



Mr. Ralph Iloagland, of Minnesota, was appointed a special agent 

 of the liureaii of Chemistry and detailed to assist Mr. Roddenbery in 

 the harvesting and testing of the crop. 



The agricultural data were obtained directly at the fields and factory 

 by weighings part of the crop and calculating the entire 1 yield from 

 the area harve>ted. Samples from each plat were separately milled 

 and sample- of juices from the mill were secured and transmitted to 

 the Washington laboratory for analysis. The plats on Field A and 

 Field \\ were treated precisely alike in every particular. 



