IO STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
FIELD EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 
As in preceding years, these have been conducted upon the 
Station land and by farmers upon their own farms in different: 
parts of the State in codperation with the Station. ‘“‘The object 
aimed at is to study the soils of different regions, learn their de- 
ficiencies, and find how to apply fertilizers so as to meet the needs. 
of particular soils and crops in an economical way.” ‘The results 
of the year’s work are given by Professor Phelps upon pages 119 to 
139 of this Report. Owing to the drought in mid-summer, the 
results’are not so striking as they have been in other years. 
The experiments by Mr. Dean of Lime Rock are particularly 
instructive. They cover a period of five years during which the 
same plots have received the same fertilizers but have borne dif- 
ferent crops in different years. The principal lessons taught are 
summarized by Professor Phelps as foHows: 
‘“(z). The necessity of preparing fertilizers so as to meet the 
needs of soils. . 
‘‘(2). The importance of stocking light, porous soils with a 
large amount of organic nitrogen.in order to supply nitrogen to 
the crop and get the best results from the mineral fertilizers. 
“(3). The value and economy of legumes for improving light, 
porous soils by plowing in as manure. 
“(4). The evidence that soluble phosphates may prove a 
detriment to the crop on certain light soils, unless there is an 
abundance of available nitrogen present in the soil In the 
absence of available nitrogen, the phosphates seem to hasten — 
maturity and thus shorten the life of the plant. Thisis a probable 
explanation of the way the phosphoric acid diminishes the yield.’” 
A summary of the results of fifteen years’ experimenting by 
soil tests with fertilizers on farms throughout New England, was. 
given in Bulletin No. 10 of the Station, and in the Annual Re- 
port for 1892. 
FORAGE PLANTS. 
The question of forage plants for Connecticut farming has. 
been studied by the Station ever since its establishment. Differ- 
ent species and varieties are grown in small areas in the Forage 
Garden, and those which seem to be worthy of special study are 
cultivated on a larger scale. During the past two or three years 
especial attention has been given to the effects of nitrogenous. 
