NITROGENOUS FEEDING STUFES. 67 
NITROGENOUS FEEDING STUFFS, AND FEEDING 
FORMULAS FOR DAIRY COWS. 
BY W. 0. ATWATER AND C. S. PHELPS. Ae T* 71 
NITROGEN AND THE FARMER—INVESTIGATIONS BY THE 
STORRS BEXPERIMENT STATION. 
One of the needs of farming in Connecticut, as in the older 
parts of the country generally, is more nitrogen. This nitro- 
gen is wanted to make larger and better crops, better food for 
stock, and more and better food for man. 
Plants get their nitrogen from the accumulated stores in the 
soil, from farm manures, from commercial fertilizers, and from 
the air. ‘The amount available in most soils in the Kastern and 
Southern States is not enough for the largest and best yields of 
the majority of our common crops. ‘The nitrogen of manures 
and fertilizers increases the yields of grasses, grains, potatoes, 
and root crops. Not only does the nitrogen increase the yield 
of these crops, but it also increases the proportion of nitrogen 
they contain in relation to the other substances. ‘The value of 
the product is thus increased in a two-fold way. Grasses 
grown on well-manured soil yield more pounds per acre, and if 
the manure contains abundant nitrogen the crop will contain 
more nitrogen per pound. In the same way nitrogenous 
manures increase the yield of corn, oats, and wheat per acre 
and the crop is richer in nitrogen, pound for pound, than that 
grown with less nitrogen. 
The value of nitrogen for increasing the growth of grasses, 
| cereals, potatoes, and root crops, has long been known. Its 
effect in improving their quality has been brought out by later 
experiment, but is not so well or so generally understood.* 
Nitrogenous fertilizers, however, do not increase in like 
degree the yields of the leguminous crops. Red clover, alsike, 
scarlet, and other clovers, cow peas, soy beans, ordinary 

* The subject is being studied by the Storrs Station as may be seen in the articles 
on Field Experiments with Fertilizers in its Annual Reports for 1888-1896. 
