256 REPORT OF THE CHEMIST OF THE 
been noted.* This increase was very marked for the nitrogenous 
fertilizers, particularly sodium nitrate; but-the results for the 
season of 1888 give marked difference in the chemical composition 
of the grass, as shown by the next topic. 
INFLUENCE OF FERTILIZERS ON THE CHEMICAL 
COMPOSITION OF GRASSES. 1888. 
In my report t for 1887 I gave the results for a large number of 
trials with the application of different fertilizing ingredients, both 
singly and combined, upon grass land, in order to determine what 
influences they exerted upon the chemical composition of the 
erass. In this experiment there were twenty-one plats growing 
both timothy and red clover, and we could find no difference in 
composition which could be attributed to the influence of the 
fertilizer, or, to quote from that report, the conclusions arrived at 
were as follows: 
“The results obtained from the experiments of this year, to 
determine the influence of fertilizers upon the composition of 
timothy and clover, show us nothing as to the possible influence 
of fertilizers. The soil upon which we are experimenting, it 
seems, is sufficiently rich to produce good crops, under favor- 
able conditions, without the use of fertilizers for immediate 
effect. The timothy hay grown upon the unfertilized plat 
XV was richer in albuminoids and _ nitrogen-free extract 
than was the average for the entire plats, although many 
of them were heavily fertilized. The greatest variation in the 
composition of the timothies, differently fertilized, is far less 
‘than the variation in the chemical composition of timothy for two 
successive years of growth upon the same plats, under like condi- 
tions and without fertilizers, so far as field culture furnishes this.” 
The following brief summary will show the results secured in 
that trial from a few of the plats for the timothy : 
*Sixth Annual Report of New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 
p. 441. 
+ Sixth Annual Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment 
Station, 1887, p. 441. 

