280 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



with commercial fertilizers, rich in potash and phosphoric acid, 

 so that all the manure on the farm need not be put on the small 

 piece of tobacco land, as is now often the case. It will be 

 noted from the figures presented in the table that tobacco draws 

 heavily on potash and nitrogen, and these ingredients must 

 therefore be supplied in ample quantities. (See Twenty-Third 

 Annual Report of this Station, p. 203-4, for further informa- 

 tion as to tobacco fertilizers.) 



Another crop which will be likely to repay the cost of com- 

 mercial fertilizers is sugar beets. This crop, like tobacco and 

 most other leafy plants, is especially exhaustive of the nitrogen 

 and potash in the soil, unless the leaves and tops are returned to 

 the land; liberal applications of the two fertilizing ingredients 

 given, with a fair supply of phosphoric acid, will be apt to in- 

 crease the tonnage of the beets and improve their quality, as 

 has been repeatedly shown by direct fertilizer trials at this 

 and other experiment stations. (Experiments with fertilizers 

 for sugar beets were conducted on different types of soils by our 

 station in 1906 ; see Bui. No. 150, also Bui. No. 123 published 

 in 1905). If the tops and beet pulp are fed to cattle or sheep 

 and the manure is carefully preserved and put on the land, the 

 loss in fertility incident to sugar beet culture will be small, 

 and it can be further reduced by applications of filter-press 

 cake which is now generally wasted at beet sugar factories. 



Of the other special crops mentioned, cabbages and peas also 

 require liberal fertilization with nitrogenous and potassic fer- 

 tilizers and should, in addition, receive a moderate allowance 

 of phosphoric acid, while potatoes, a crop much less exhaustive 

 than either of those just mentioned, are benefited by a general 

 proportion of potash. 



Since the fertilizer requirements of different types of Wis- 

 consin soils have not as yet been systematically studied, we can- 

 not say definitely which system of fertilization will produce 

 the best results for our different kinds of soils. The follow- 

 ing general hints as to the fertilizer requirements of soils of 

 different character are, however, borne out by our present 

 knowledge of the subject : Soils whose fertility has been great- 



