16 



T. Lyttleton Lyon and James A. Bizzell 



INVESTIGATIONS AT THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENT STATION 



In connection with a study of the nitrogen relations of the timothy 

 plant, determinations of nitrates were made during the summers of 1907, 

 1908, and 1909, in samples of soil taken from field plats under timothy, 

 maize, and oats in rotation. The results of these experiments showed 

 such characteristic relations of the respective plants to the nitrate content 

 of the soil that the study has now been continued for six years. The 

 present paper deals mainly with the field experiments in the investigation. 



There were two conditions of the experiments which probably con- 

 tributed largely to making the relationship obvious. These were (1) the 

 heavy clay soil, which made the movement of nitrates very slow and hence 

 emphasized the relationship between the plant at any particular stage 

 of growth and the nitrate content of the soil; (2) the division of each plat 

 into sections, of which one was always kept bare but received the same soil 

 treatment as the planted sections of the plat and thus permitted a constant 

 comparison of the nitrates in the planted and the unplanted sections. 



Experiments on 2:)lats manured for timothy 

 Experiment plats one tenth acre in size were used in this experiment. 

 They were in a rotation of timothy three years and maize, oats, wheat, 

 each one year. Most of them had been fertilized in different ways for 

 timothy, but received no fertilizer for the grain crops that followed. 

 Fertihzers were applied to the timothy in 1905, 1906, and 1907. Manure 

 was applied to the timothy in 1905 and 1907. There were twenty-two 

 plats in all. Their treatment is shown in Table 1 : 



TABLE 1. Fertilizer Treatment (per 



Acre) op Plats Manured for Timothy 



Plat 



Treatment 



Plat 



Treatment 



711 

 712 

 713 

 714 

 715 

 716 



No fertilizer 



320 pounds rock superphosphate 



80 pounds muriate of potash 



No fertilizer 



160 pounds nitrate of soda 



320 pounds rock superphosphate 

 160 pounds nitrate of soda 



717 



718 



719 



720 

 721 



No fertilizer 



320 pounds rock superphosphate 

 80 pounds muriate of potash 



160 pounds nitrate of soda 

 80 pounds muriate of potash 



No fertilizer 



160 pounds nitrate of soda 

 80 pounds muriate of potash 

 320 pounds rock superphosphate 



