
EXPERIMENT ON SOIL IMPROVEMENT. 205 
AN EXPERIMENT ON SOIL IMPROVEMENT. 
BY SC St PHA LPS: 

An experiment on soil improvement, which is to be continued 
through quite a period of years, was laid out by the Station on 
a series of plots of land at Storrs in the spring of 1899. An 
account of the preliminary experiment is here given. ‘The soil 
on which the experiment is being carried out appears to be 
lacking in organic matter and probably in available nitrogen. 
Such a soil is commonly spoken of as ‘‘ poor’’ or ‘‘ worn out.”’ 
The purpose of the experiment is to compare the value and 
economy of different methods of manuring for restoring fertil- 
ity toa soil of this kind. The fertilizers used in the experi- 
ments, the kinds and quantities of which are fully explained in 
a later paragraph, are (1) stable manure, (2) a ‘‘ complete’’ 
chemical fertilizer, and (3) ‘‘green’’ manures, both alone and 
in combination with mineral fertilizers. The plan of the experi- 
ments, which is given in detail beyond, consists briefly in 
applying the fertilizers of the different kinds and combinations 
upon the different plots, growing the same crop on all of the 
plots, and comparing the results in the yields of the crop. 
The field selected for this experiment is one which had been 
used for a peach orchard since 1889. While the peach trees 
were growing the field had been liberally treated with mineral 
fertilizers, but not very much nitrogen had been supplied. 
During the years 1889 to 1894 different crops had been grown 
between the rows of trees and had been removed from the 
land; after 1894 the land remained under cultivation most of 
the time, but without cropping. Part of the peach trees were 
removed in the fall of 1897 and the balance in the fall of 1808. . 
When the field was plowed in the spring of 1899 the soil, which 
is a medium heavy loam and holds moisture well, was compact 
and hard and seemed to be lacking in organic matter. 
