AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 131 



paying crop since the first year. The question naturally arises, 

 why did we obtain so good results the first year with commercial 

 fertilizer and such indifferent results in subsequent years. Many 

 farmers who have tried to run a field with commercial fertilizers 

 alone for a series of years have been confronted with the same 

 facts that are encountered here. 



The experiments do not furnish the data for a definite answer 

 but attention is called to certain facts in connection with the his- 

 tory of this field. At the first plowing there was a heavy sod 

 turned under which insured a first class mechanical condition of 

 the soil for the crop that followed. Since that time, although 

 grass has been produced on the field one season, no crop has been 

 grown on sod as the ground was fallow the year following the 

 grass crop. On the plots manured with stable manure large 

 amounts of organic matter have been supplied in the manure 

 which, on a stiff clay loam like the soil in the experiment, insures 

 a better mechanical condition for the growth of crops. 



SUMMARY. 



(1.) On sod land all of the phosphates used in the experi- 

 ment have been effective. 



(2.) With oats, dissolved bone black has produced on the 

 average the largest crop. 



(3.) With peas and hay there has been but little difference 

 in the effectiveness of the three phosphates used. 



The Effect of a Partial and Complete Fertilizer. 



The object of this experiment is to determine the needs of 

 the soil of the College Farm and the special need of different 

 crops on that soil. 



The ordinary definition of a complete fertilizer is, one that 

 furnishes all three of the elements which are most likely to be 

 deficient in the soil, namely, potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen. 



A partial fertilizer is one from which one or two of the ab )ve 

 named elements are omitted. It is in this sense that the terms 

 partial and complete fertilizers are used. 



Table D shows the quantity of oats produced the present year 

 on unmanured plots, on plots manured with muriate of potash 

 and sulphate of ammonia, on plots manured with dissolved bouc 

 black, on plots manured with dissolved bone black and muriate of 

 potash, and two sets manured with complete fertilizers. Table E 

 gives the average yields per acre of the same and the gains per 

 acre of the manured plots over the unmanured plots. Table F 

 gives the average yields for each year and the total yields of the 

 different crops for the period of six years. 



