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New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 181 
2. To ascertain what depth of surface tillage retains the greatest 
amount of soil moisture. 
3. To compare the effects of mulching with those of tillage in 
retaining soil moisture. 
Main plat G 9, containing one-twentieth of an acre, of which the 
diminsions were 33 x 66 feet, was divided into ten plats of equal 
size, and these were grouped into two series of five plats each. 
The arrangement of these plats, as well as the treatment given 
them, is shown in the accompanying diagram : 

No. - No. che No. 4. No. Os 

Surface mulch- 
ed with short 
oats straw one 
Suface neither | Surface stirred | Surfacestirred | Surface stirred 
mulched nor| one-half inch} two inches | fourinches 
tilled. deep. deep. deep. 
inch deep. 
A. B. C. D. E. 


No. 6. No. 7. No. 8. No. 9. No. 10. 
Sao ead a Surface stirred | Surface stirred | Surface stirred | Surface neither 
oatsstrawone | four inches! two inches-| one-half inch | mulched nor 
inch deep. deep. deep. deep. tilled. 
| E. D. 3) B. A. | 




_As appears, plats 6-10 inclusive are duplicates of 1-5, with the 
exception that their order is reversed. This was done in order 
that each pair of duplicates might represent, as nearly as possible, 
an average of the whole main plat. The soil of this main platis, 
for the first nine or ten inches, a clay loam, rather light in texture 
for the Station farm, but containing sufficient clay to make it 
bake somewhat in dry weather. Below this it is a very tenacious 
clay, generally of a light yellow color, but in spots inclining 
to bluish. The soil to the depth of a foot, is nearly free from 
large stones, but contains on the average about four per cent by 
weight of fine gravel that will not pass through a sieve of ten 
meshes to the inch. 
The tillage on plats 2-4 and 7-9 inclusive was repeated after 
every rain sufficient to puddle the surface, as soon as the soil was 
dry enough to work. On plats 2 and 9, the garden rake only was 
used. On the other tilled plats the soil was thoroughly loosened 
