The Soil. 
49 
The only remnants of the crop which could have been present in 
the fall samples were the fine roots which we could not remove, and 
such leaves as might have fallen and decayed during the season, all 
others were removed from the field. With these explanations, we 
must abide by our results even if there is a difference of 126 per 
cent, in the amount of phosphoric acid in practically the same soil, 
sampled in the spring and fall of the same year. 
§ 103. It is not a matter for surprise that samples taken three 
years later, after the refuse of several crops and a liberal amount of 
manure had been incorporated with the soil, should show differ¬ 
ences, indicating an improvement in the soil. The subsoiling, deep 
plowings, and the continued cultivation, together with the fact that 
the ground was left thrown up into rather high and rough ridges 
during the winters, exposing the deeper portions of the soil to the 
effects of the winter seasons—all tend to mix and improve the soil ; 
but there is only one thing which has added any mineral matter to 
the soil, that is the application of the manure, which was made to 
alternate sections of the plot, as has been stated elsewhere. 
Samples taken in the autumn of 1899 gave the following 
results: 
TABLE XXIII.—ANALYSES OF SAMPLES OF SOIL TAKEN IN 1899. 
NUMBEE OF PLOT. 
Nitrogen. 
Per Cent. 
Potash. 
Per Cent. 
Phosphoric Acid. 
Per Cent. 
Humus. 
Per Cent. 
Phosphoric Acid 
in Humus. Cal¬ 
culated on Soil. 
Per Cent. 
( Manured. 
0.1152 
1.1700 
0.1343 
1.1000 
0.0767 
O. . . 
/ Not manured. 
0.0035 
0.9990 
0.1215 
1.0500 
0.0735 
o 
( Manured. 
0.1295 
1,3030 
0.1567 
1.0600 
0.0607 
Li ... . 
( Not manured. 
0.1355 
1.0994 
0.1695 
1.2550 
0.0255 
0 Manured. 
0.1312 
0.9540 
0.1215 
1.2800 
Lost 
1. . . 
/Not manured. 
0.1316 
0.8493 
0.1727 
1.0900 
0.0670 
These numbers, 3, 2 and 1, manured and not manured, do not 
correspond exactly to A, B, etc. The five sections A, B, C, D and 
E, were made into six sections to study the effects of manure upon 
the crop and soil. No. 3 manured corresponds to part of A, while 
No. 3 not manured corresponds partly to A and partly to B, and so 
on. The plot was 600 feet long, and the manured and not manured 
sections were each 100 feet long. The samples were taken from 
the middle of the respective plots at the end of the season and nine 
months after the application of the manure. 
