56 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 196. 



tent soluble is about four-fifths of the whole; while practically all of the 

 phosphoric acid is insoluble. In the case of the plots, then, to which 

 cow manure was applied in winter, one must have anticipated that such 

 waste as occurred would have carried off more potash than of either of 

 the other more important elements. In the case of the stable manure 

 applied to plot 5, as has already been pointed out, some fermentation 

 had taken place before it was taken to the field. This must have in- 

 creased the solubility of the nitrogen content, but this manure, it will be 

 remembered, was from horses, and such manure is much drier than fresh 

 cow manure, the urine being relatively far less abundant. This must, 

 I think, decrease the probability of a loss of potash from manure spread 

 during the winter. Moreover, the appHcation made to plot 5 was usually 

 comparatively late in the winter, so that the period of exposure on the 

 surface was shorter than the average of the other plots, which also would 

 tend to decrease the amount of such loss of potash as may have occurred. 



It is now a matter of almost universal knowledge that the proportion 

 of clover in mowings is much affected, throughout the greater part of the 

 soils of Massachusetts at least, if not throughout those of the greater 

 part of the northeastern section of the United States, by the supply of 

 potash in available form; and the much greater proportion of clover on 

 plots S than on plots N of 1, 2, 3 and 4 tends to confirm my opinion in a 

 striking way, — that the greatest loss which occurred from manure spread 

 upon the surface in the winter and allowed to remain there until spring 

 was the loss of potash. The fact that there was less difference in the 

 proportion of clover on N and S of plot 5 than on the other plots tends 

 also to confirm the correctness of the opinion expressed concerning the 

 losses from the partially fermented stable manure. 



Just how great may have been the losses of nitrogen from manure 

 spread in the winter and allowed to remain on the surface, our figures 

 showing yields fail to give a very complete index; but the fact that in the 

 eighth year without additional manure the yield of hay even on plots N 

 was, in general, good shows that the wastage of nitrogen was probably 

 not very excessive. Nor would excessive loss of this element, as a rule, 

 be reasonably expected, in view of the fact that the manure spread in the 

 winter on most of the plots was practically entirely unfermented, and 

 could not under normal winter weather conditions undergo fermentation 

 wliile lying upon the surface, which would increase the solubility of the 

 nitrogen compounds found in the fresh manure. 



Financial Results. 



The basis of the calculations upon which the tables presenting relative 

 financial results have been computed is as follows: Value of products 

 per ton: millet hay, $10; mixed grass and clover hay, $12; rowen, $8; 

 ensilage corn, $4; corn and soy bean mixture for ensilage, $4; soy beans 

 for ensilage, $5; corn stover, $6; soy bean straw, $5. Value per bushel: 

 corn, 70 cents (1 cent per pound on the ear); soy beans, $2.50. The 



