BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 103 
No. 6.— A Record of Trials of various Fertilizers upon the 
Plain-field of the Bussey Institution. By F. H. Storer. Sec- 
ond Report.* Results obtained in 1872. 
Wirn the exception of a few trifling points of detail, the experi- 
ments of 1872 were exact repetitions of those of 1871. (See pages 
80 to 102 of this Bulletin.) The same kinds of crops were grown as 
before, and the same kinds and amounts of fertilizers were applied to 
each of the squares of land ; that is to say, the same kinds of materials 
as those used last year were again purchased of the same dealers. 
Naturally enough, some of them differed a little in composition from 
the previous samples, as may be seen from the analyses reported on 
pages 8 to 12 of this Bulletin. As a matter of course, the land had 
to be spaded this year, since a plough would have disturbed the 
stakes by which the squares were marked. 
The fertilizers were applied-and the seeds sown in the same ways 
as before, with the exception that the barley, instead of being strewn 
broadcast, was now sown in little drills, 33 centimetres apart, in 
order that it might be thoroughly covered with soil, to protect it 
from the depredations of birds. 
The summer of 1872 was remarkable for an almost constant suc- 
cession of severe thunder-showers, which greatly injured the experi- 
mental crops. ‘The soil of the field, resting upon loose gravel, as ex- 
plained on page 80, was continually leached by large volumes of rain- 
water, to the manifest detriment of the crops. The surface of the 
land was often muddy, and at other times crusted. The bean crop 
suffered very much from dirt that was spattered upon it by the fre- 
quent heavy rains. Not only was the growth of the plants hindered 
in this way, but many leaves that dried up prematurely, because of 
injuries caused by the particles of dirt, were blown away before the 
time of harvesting, and so lost altogether. In general it appeared 
that the less food the plants had the more the crop suffered from this 
cause. ‘The beans could not be hoed so frequently as in the previous 
year, because of the muddy condition of the land. ; 
* Presented to the Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agricul- 
ture, March 28, 1873. 
