FIELD EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 39 
be on the larger plots. The most important part of these 
experiments, however, is believed to be the study of the effects 
of nitrogen applied in the fertilizers upon the proportions of 
nitrogenous compounds (protein) produced in the crops. The 
smaller sections give results bearing on this question that are 
probably quite as accurate as would be obtained by the use of 
larger plots. The advantages in sub-dividing the larger plots 
into sections and growing the same crop on different series of 
sections is that the probability of differences due to irregulari- 
ties of the soil is to a certain extent eliminated; and as a larger 
number of crops can be grown in the same experiments, the 
results thus have a wider application. 
The name of the crop grown in each section is given in the 
space by which the section is indicated in the above diagram. 
Two series of sections, A and F, were planted with corn; two 
series, B and E, with soy beans, and two series, C and D, with 
cow peas. In the tables and discussions on the following pages, 
the results with the soy beans on the two series of sections have 
been combined just as though a single series of one-twenty-fifth 
acre sections were used. ‘The same is true of the results with 
cow peas. In the case of the corn, however, the results on the 
two series have been kept separate since, as will be explained 
later, the methods of fertilizing were not strictly uniform on 
both series, lime having been applied in 1898 to series A at the 
north end of the field, while series F at the south end did not 
receive the lime in addition to the regular fertilizer, 
As a whole the results of the experiments of 1900 were 
fairly normal, ‘The weather conditions were generally favor- 
able and the yields of crop were fair. It is noticeable, how- 
ever, that the yields are not as heavy as those obtained in the 
experiments of 1895 and 1896. This may be due to the fact 
that the plots on which the crops are grown have received only 
commercial fertilizers for eleven years. It is possible that the 
organic matter (humus) in the soil has been gradually reduced, 
and the yields have consequently fallen off. This can perhaps 
be accounted for by the assumption that in seasons of heavy 
rains the lack of humus in the soil would tend to favor the 
leaching of the soluble nitrogen compounds into the subsoil 
and perhaps beyond the reach of the crops; while in dry 
A 
