29 



DKSClvll'l l\ K Nll> ON SOILS. 



(Nw. L>L':;S:; and 228 

 The Samples of ><>il received from the Indiana Mation were accom- 



panied hy tlie following description: 



I -end \ <m In-day a sample i the soil and a sample !' the subsoil from the land 

 on \\hich the work on sugar beets will l>e conducted. This land has not been used 

 for experimental plats, hut has been in hulk crops, following the general rotation of 

 corn, oate, wheat. and clover. P.cforc the last corn crop I think there was millet on 

 it. Last year the land was in clover with n poor stand, so that the Iteets are planted 

 upon a clover sod which consists largely of weeds. The land is in the northwest 

 corner of the lield immediately west of the station building and is opposite the old 

 greenhouse. 



A(/ri<-nlf i//-<i/ ('<>ll/<. N it'll. 



Field No. 3, Nos. 23581 and 23582. 

 Field No. 6, Nos. 23583 and 23584. 



Under date of November 11, 1901, Mr. J. D. Towiir, agriculturist 

 of the station, made the following report on the soil on which the 

 beets were grown: 



In this mail I am sending you samples of the soil and subsoil on which the sugar 

 beets which we have been sending you from seed No. 5772 were grown. The sample 

 marked field No. 3 was a clover sod of two years' standing which was covered dur- 

 ing the winter uniformly with a coat of stable manure. As soon as we could work 

 the ground in the spring it was plowed to a depth of 8 inches, and suhsoiled 7 inches 

 deeper. This operation was immediately followed by the roller, and the ground was 

 harrowed at frequent intervals until May!*, when it was in fine condition, and an appli- 

 cation of 200 pounds of home-mixed fertili/er per acre was made. This fertili/er 

 consisted of one part nitrate of soda, one part muriate of potash, and two parts dis- 

 solved phosphate rock, the latter giving an analysis of about 17 percent total phos- 

 phoric acid. The nitrate of soda was '.Ni percent pure, and the muriate of potash 

 contained 49.85 per cent K.,0. 



The soil samples were taken August 2S. In field No. .'5 four samples of the soil 

 were taken in the following manner, where the depths were respectively!* inches, 

 8 inches, 6i inches, and 114 inches. In each case a hole was dug about 1 foot 

 square, leaving one perpendicular side from which a vertical slice about .'5 inches in 

 thickness was taken. The several samples were thoroughly mixed, and the sample 

 sent is a portion of this mixture. The samples of subsoil, taken immediately below 

 the soil samples, were from a depth of 1 foot, and were procured in a similar manner. 



The samples from field No. (y were taken in a similar manner to those from Held 

 No. 3, though the soil, a heavier loam, was from a plot which has grown sugar beets 

 three years in succession, receiving absolutely no fertili/ r. The depth of soil in the 

 three places sampled was 8, 8, and 9] inches. This plot was adjacent to others 

 w T hich have received each year applications of fertilizers, but the remarkably low 

 yield of the No. 6 plot is due more to the lateness of the season at which the seed 

 was planted than to exhaustion of the soil fertility. I wrote you some time ago that 

 we had sown this seed on a piece of muck land, some of which was quite thoroughly 

 mixed with alluvial soil. 



