FIELD EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. E21 
POUNDS REQUIRED FOR A BUSHEL OF DRY SHELLED CORN. 
The percentages of water at harvest in the corn of the different 
experiments are found to vary considerably. The field weights 
are; NOt. an accurate measure of the value of the crop. The 
moisture and the proportions of cob to corn vary widely on dif- 
ferent fields, but have been found to be fairly uniform on differ- 
ent plots of the same field. Moisture tests of the corn, at the 
time of harvest, have been made for all but one of the experiments 
in order to find the number of pounds of ears required to make a 
bushel of dry shelled corn. The differences in the percentages 
of water-free corn may be ascribed to two causes; variations in 
the proportion of corn to cob and variations in the moisture con- 
tained in the ears at harvest. Owing to heavy rainfalls this year, 
while the corn was in the shocks, it was not as well dried as 
usual at harvest. Mr. Manchester grew a dent variety, and the 
corn seemed quite moist at harvest. The corn in nearly all cases 
contained a larger percentage of water than usual, and there 
are quite wide variations in the different experiments. 
These differences point out the importance of knowing the 
“moisture in the crop of each field instead of depending upon 
averages. From 70 to 75 pounds are commonly considered a 
sufficient weight of ears to make one bushel of dry shelled 
corn, but in these experiments an average of 88 pounds was 
required. 
SOIL TEST EXPERIMENTS. 
The plan of experiments for soil tests consists in applying, on 
parallel plots of land, fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphoric 
acid, and potash, singly, two by two, and all three together. The 
fertilizing materials were in all cases supplied by the Station in 
standard commercial forms, such as nitrate of soda, dissolved 
bone-black, and muriate of potash. In all of the experiments 
here described, the cost of the fertilizer is estimated from the re- 
tail selling prices of the materials, plus $2 per ton for mixing and 
freights. 
On the following pages, the comparative yields of the experi- 
ments discussed are shown by means of diagrams. ‘The fertilt- 
zers and the weights are given at the left of the diagram. ‘The 
lengths of the lines represent the comparative yields per acre 
from the different plots, and the figures given in the last column 
show the actual yields per acre. 
