Field expeiri hunts. 31 



simple. The land is plowed in the late fall or early spring, and 

 is treated the same as if grain is to be sown. The peas are 

 planted with a grain drill, clover and mixed grasses if desired 

 being sown at the same time. When the peas are in the right 

 condition for canning, they are cut with a mowing machine and 

 drawn to the factory where they are threshed, shelled and sorted 

 by machinery. The yield in good seasons is about 2,500 pounds 

 of shelled peas per acre, although 3,000 pounds is not an uncom- 

 mon yield. 



In 1905 the Station conducted two experiments on ]\Jr. 

 Goodwin's farms. While these were primarily intended as 

 experiments upon moculation of peas with artificial cultures, 

 they served at the same time as partial fertilizer experiments. 

 The account of the failure of the inoculation experiments due to 

 the poor quality of the cultures both from the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture and the Nitro-Culture Company is given on page 

 28 and following. The report of the fertilizer experiments 

 follows. 



In growing potatoes only high grade fertilizers carrying 3 to 

 4 per cent of nitrogen are employed. Because of the readiness 

 with which this class of fertilizers are obtained they are also 

 quite commonly used for pea growing. When the soil is stocked 

 with the proper organisms, peas, as other legumes, can obtain all, 

 or practically all of their nitrogen from the free nitrogen of the 

 air. The bacteria which enable the plants to do this are more 

 active when the supply of combined nitrogen is limited. Thus 

 it happens that when a fertilizer that furnishes all the nitrogen 

 needed for a given crop of legumes is used, the plants avail 

 themselves of this ready combined nitrogen and do not obtain 

 any considerable amount from the air. In the experiments here 

 reported fertilizers low in nitrogen were used. 



EXPERIMENT AT HOME FARM. 



The field used for this experiment was situated on a rather 

 moist side hill with a slope to the south. The land was. in a good 

 state of cultivation and the greater part of it was planted to 

 peas in 1904, while the rest Was in grass. A section of four 

 acres which appeared to be uniform in condition was selected 

 for the experiment and divided into plots of one acre each. The 

 division was so made that each plot covered an equal portion of 

 the section which was in grass last season. The whole field 



