56 , Report oF THE First ASSISTANT OF THE 
There are no great differences in the composition of the soils 
from separate fields. The subsoil is similiar to the top soil, but 
contains, however, less insoluble matter, more iton and alumina, 
lime, potash and soda, less organic matter by twenty-five per 
cent, less phosphoric acid and thirty per cent less nitrogen. 
Although the soil contains a large per cent of potash, only a 
very small part of it exists in a soluble form. The soil from 
field E, which was the finest of any, and contained .95 per 
cent of potash, had only .03 (028) per cent soluble in boiling 
water. The action of frost alone does not perceptibly increase 
the soluble portion; for some (800 grams) of this same soil, 
moistened with distilled water and frozen forty-seven times, still 
contained only .03 per cent soluble potash. Some experiments 
to determine the effect of adding gypsum, sulphate of soda, ete., 
to the soil have not been completed. 
Some experiments with regard to the application of lime to 
muck soil, which contained (with 24.53 per cent moisture in air- 
dried sample,) 50.44 per cent organic matter, and 1.48 per cent of 
nitrogen, are also incomplete. 
PouuttTRy FEEDING EXPERIMENTS. 
The poultry work has been a continuation of the feeding experi- 
ments of 1888. | 
In order to observe the effect of rations more or less nitro- 
genous during the laying season, two pens of pullets were fed; a 
larger number of fowls being used and the rations less widely con- 
trasted than in previous experiments. There were at first sixteen 
fowls in each pen, but during the latter five months there were 
thirteen. The number in each pen was kept the same, and the 
fowls comparable as to age and breed. The pens (Nos. 6 and 7), 
each originally contained four Light Brahmas, two W. Plymouth 
Rocks, three 8. Plymouth Rocks, one Buff Cochin, four W. ©. B. 
Polish and two S. C. W. Leghorns. 
Pen 6 was fed a “mixture” (consisting, by measure, three parts 
of wheat bran, four of linseed meal and six of ground oats), corn on 
cob, oats and meat scraps, with very little fresh grass. Pen 7 was 
fed corn meal, oats, corn on cob and meat scraps, with very little 
fresh grass. 
