422 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Risler's Experiments on the Yield of Meadows. 





YIELD 

 OF HAY 



PER 

 ACRE IN 

 POUNDS 



RAINFALL 



lN INCHES 



DATES WHEN 



DRAIN3 



CEASED TO DELIVER 



WATER 



TEMPERATURE. 



C° 



YEAR 



IN APRIL 

 AND MAY 



MEAN 

 PER DAY 



IN 

 APRIL 



IN 

 MAY 



FOR THE 

 TWO 



MONTHS 



1866,. 



3864 



9-533 



O.I56 



End of May 



12. 42° 



I3.70 



13.06° 



1867, . 



3375 



10.078 



O.165 



End of May 



IO.67 



13. II 



II.89 



1868, . 



2842 



4.248 



O.O7O 



End of May 



9.OO 



18.72 



13.86 



1869, 



2753 



6.303 



O.IO3 



End of March 



IO.80 



I5.67 



I3.23 



1870, . 



1288 



1.271 



0.02I 



End of March 



9.80 



l6.I2 



I2.96 



1871. 



2 975 



3.864 



O.063 

 O.O96 



End of April 



II.20 



I3-9I 



I2.46 



Means, 



2849 



5-883 



IO.62 



I5.20 



12.91 



DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF WATER CONSUMED BY PLANTS AT THE 

 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 



Experiments extending over several years have been made at the Wisconsin 

 Agricultural Experiment Station by F. H. King, the plan of the experiment being as 

 follows: Galvanized iron cylinders eighteen inches inside diameter and forty inches 

 deep were placed in pits with their tops flush with the surface of the ground in a field 

 surrounded with growing crops of the same kind as those growing in the cylinders. 

 Each experiment was conducted in duplicate. 



Very careful determinations of the amount of moisture received by these cylinders 

 were made by weighing them from time to time with a specially constructed weigh- 

 master's beam, sensitive to o. 1 of a pound and carrying a weight of 600 pounds. 

 Whenever the soil of the cylinders was likely to become too wet from the natural rain, 

 shelters were provided to exclude it, otherwise the cylinders were exposed to the 

 weather night and day. Careful weighings just before and after rains showed that 

 the catch of water by the several cylinders did not materially differ among themselves 

 and that they corresponded very closely to the result indicated by the rain gage. 



In case of dry weather the water was added in weighed quantities as necessary to 

 maintain the most vigorous growth of the plants. In the case of the experiments on 

 corn, the surface of the ground was stirred to correspond with the field conditions, but 

 otherwise no effort was made to check surface evaporation. 



