14 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I916. 



results of any single year It is planned to repeat these experi- 

 ments in 1916. It is hoped that in time sufficient evidence can be 

 obtained to definitely settle the question as to the proper rate 

 of seeding for Aroostook conditions. 



Plant Food in Aroostook Soils. 



The shortage of potash in 19 15 and its high cost and very 

 limited amount available for 19 16 crops makes it necessary 

 to carefully study the fertilizer question from a very different 

 standpoint than at any time in the past. The soils of the 

 older cultivated parts of the State are very uneven in their 

 composition. All types of soil from heavy clay to light sand 

 are jumbled together so that it is not at all unusual to have a 

 half dozen distinct types of soil on the same farm. While the 

 soils of Aroostook County differ considerably and are not 

 uniform, similar to prairie soil, still there is a pretty distinct 

 type of soil that is generally used for the potato' crop. On 

 this account chemical analyses throw some light on the soil 

 and fertilizer situation for these fairly similar soils. At dif- 

 ferent times the Station chemists have examined a total of ten 

 samples of Aroostook soils from the towns of Houlton, Fort 

 Fairfield, Caribou and Presque Isle. The description of the 

 samples and the results of the examination so far as it bears 

 on their content of plant food follow. 



Description of Samples. 



Except as specially indicated, all of the samples were taken in the 

 fall of the year from newly plowed fields. Samples 549 to 552 were 

 from Aroostook Farm. 



Sample No. 549 was taken from the surface soil from a field that 

 had been in grass for three years. 



Sample No. 550 was taken from the surface soil from a field that 

 had been in grass for two years, and was in potatoes without any 

 potash in the fertilizer in 1915. 



Sample No. 551 was subsoil from the same as the preceding number 



■—550. 



Sample No. 552 was taken from a field that had never been plowed 

 and was used for a number of years as pasture. Care was taken to get 

 the sample as free from small roots as possible. 



Sample 3403 was taken from a field in Fort Fairfield that had been 

 in grass two years and carried potatoes the year it was sampled. Before 

 the potatoes were planted it had a dressing of stable manure and 

 1000 pounds of fertilizer to the acre. 



