34 T. Lyttleton Lyon and James A. Bizzell 



the maize rows it was sown also on the part of the plat on which no maize 

 was planted. In 1907 maize was in the center section of the plat 

 and the sections not planted to maize were on the two ends. In 1908 

 maize was on the end sections and the soil in the middle was left un- 

 planted. These plats were not on the same soil in 1908 as in 1907. 

 In 1907 the plats were on a sandy soil, while in 1908 they were on the 

 clay loam on which the experiments already discussed were conducted. 

 The arrangements of these plats are shown in diagrams III and IV. 



The soil samples were taken with a soil auger to the depth of seven 

 inches. Each sample in 1907 was obtained in the following manner: 

 six borings were taken, carefully mixed on a tablet in the field, placed 

 in a tightly closed jar, and carried to the laboratory for moisture and 

 nitrate determinations. In. 1908 four borings were made in each end of 

 the plat, the eight borings from the two ends of the same plat were mixed, 

 and a part was taken as a sample. Samples from the middles were com- 

 posed of six borings. 



Experiments with maize, millet, and soy beans in 1907 



Maize was planted in hills three feet apart each way. Five kernels 

 were planted in each hill and these were later thinned to three stalks 

 in a hill. Millet was sown on the ends of certain plats and soy beans 

 on the ends of other plats. These were sown when the maize was culti- 

 vated on the dates stated in Table 10. Every third plat was a check 

 plat and was planted only to maize, the weeds in these check plats being 

 kept down by cultivation. The unplanted ends received the same culti- 

 vation as the remainder of the plat. Nitrates on the planted and the 

 unplanted sections are given in Table 9. 



The analyses were all made late in the growing season, when the growth 

 of maize had reduced the nitrate content in the planted sections below 

 that in the bare sections. The nitrate content of the unplanted soil is 

 fairly constant until late in the season, when, conditions in September 

 evidently being favorable for the process of nitrification, the average 

 for September 16 shows that the nitrates in the unplanted soil have more 

 than doubled since the analyses of August 25. This may have been 

 due to the abundant rainfall during the early part of September, there 

 having been 2.53 inches between September 1 and September 16, while 



