166 TwENTY-FlEST BiBNNIAL, EePOET 



Experiment Station farm about 1888 to 1894, in wHcli 

 the use of potash salts gave suoh striking increases, es- 

 pecially on comi The recent experiments on the Exper- 

 iment Station farm at Lexington to which we have re- 

 ferred, were conducted on the north side of the present 

 Experiment Station farm, which is well drained, while 

 the old experiments were conducted on the south side of 

 the present farm. Originally the Experiment Station 

 owned only the south side of the present farm. 



In my judgment the explanation of the results ob- 

 tained in the old experiments is not far to seek. They 

 were conducted on soil that was very wet and known as 

 ' ' cold ' ' and ' ' crawfishy. ' ' In fact, Dr. Peter, who helped 

 to conduct the experiments, says the ground was so wet 

 that it could not be plowed until late in the spring. The 

 land was partially tiled later in these experiments. Last 

 year when it was decided to resume these experiments 

 on the old plots, and it became necessary to fence them 

 off, we had opportunity to make some important obser- 

 vations. In digging holes for gate posts, solid rock was 

 struck at a depth of 3% feet. The sub-soil is yellow and 

 of a putty-like consistency and comes near to the sur- 

 face, although the land had been is grass for the last 

 twenty years. This shows poor aeration, a condition 

 which prevents the accumulation of organic matter to 

 any great depth. It is a well known fact that poor drain- 

 age tends to make potassium as well as other elements 

 unavailable. 



In addition to the foregoing adverse conditions, all 

 of these crops in the old experiments were grown in con- 

 tinuous culture with no provision for the return of or- 

 ganic matter either in stable manure or green manure 

 crops. In short, the experiments were conducted on a 

 soU that is not typical of any considerable area in the 

 Blue Grass region, and according to a system of farm- 

 ing that we today never recommend as building' up and 

 maintaining soil fertility. 



This is no criticism of these experiihentg. They 

 were conducted on the only land owned by the Experi- 

 ment Station at that time. They were patterned after 

 some of the Eothamsted experiments. Yet we are bound 

 to admit today that many of the Eothamsted experi- 



