The Ely Miner

DEFINITE CONCLUSIONS REACHED
FROM FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS

Pennsylvania Plots
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Results of Treatment.

"The fertilizer experiments at the Pennsylvania State college were started in 1881 and have been in progress ever since," Prof. F. D. Gardner, head of the agronomy department, told the Crop Improvement association at the Maryland Farm Bureau Federation meeting held recently. "And it is now possible to draw some rather definite conclusions as to what may be expected from long-time fertilizer treatment.

"When applied at the rate of six tons per acre on these plots manure has been worth $3.85 per ton, but at the rate of 10 tons has been worth only $2.72 per ton, showing that the most profitable use of manure is to spread the limited amount over a larger acreage rather than applying it more heavily on a smaller acreage."

In the light of more than 40 years' results from these oldest of all fertility experiments in the United States, Professor Gardner draws the conclusions that complete fertilizers have maintained crop yields approximately as well as manure and just as economically if cost of the manure is taken as $1.87 per ton. His recommendation to farmers is to use manure and commercial fertilizer, according to the soil needs, and practice a good rotation. He enumerates the definite practices that farmers of his state could profitably follow on the basis of the Pennsylvania experiments:

For corn, six tons of manure supplemented with acid phosphate.

For oats, on depleted soils, 200 pounds of acid phosphate.

For wheat, complete fertilizer, 400 to 500 pounds per acre.

For clover and timothy hay, nothing.

For timothy, topdressing with nitrate of soda.

Sufficient lime in some form to grow good clover.