A STUDY OF THE AGUCULTLRAL
RECLAMATVON OF A MUCK AREA
IN OCEANA COUNTY, MICHIGAN

Thaitforl'ho DmofM.$.
Ha" Ivan Sippy
1925

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A STUDY OF THE AGRICULTURAL RiGLAAATION

OF A MUCK AREA IN OCEANA COUNTY, MICHIGAN

A Thesis Submitted in Application for the Degree
of Master of Science at Michigan State College

by

Hall Ivan Sippy
M“,

June, 1925

  

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Part I.

Introduction ...............

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction

Previous Investigations ...

Part II. Historxiof the Muck Tract

A. Location and General Description. .................... ...10

B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

G.

Part III.

Cultural Experiments

Variety Tests

Drainage .........

Burning .......
Clearing ..............

First Tillage ........

Adaptability of Crops ..... ....... . ......

Livestock Management .

Experimental Work ..............

A. Sunflowers ...

B. Corn ...........

C. Spring Rye 0.0.0.000...

D. Winter Rye......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

E. Oats

F. Timothy ......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A. corn ooooo ooooooooooooooooeooooooocoo.

B. Barley

C. Oats

Fertility Experiments ooeooeooooeooeoooeoooo

A. suan-O'ers ......OOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOO

B. Corn ....... ..... ...

C. Potatoes

0.000000000000000...0......O.

D. Sugar Beets.................... .......

..........70

...............78

.80
..........83
....86

..89

000000091

.......... 94

....96

E. Spring Rye ................... ....... .................99
F. Oats ......... .......................... .............101
G. Millet-Soybeans ..................... ...... . ..... ....104
H. Clover-Timothy Hay ................. .......... . ...... 105
I. Alfalfa ..................... ...................... .108
J. Annual Sweet Clover ............ ............. . ......111
K. Biennial Sweet Clover ....................... ..... ...113
L. Timothy Meadow ....... .............................. 114

Part IV. Practical Application ........... ..... . ...... ....118

Literature Cited...0.00.00........OOOOOOOOOOOO...0.0.0.00000122

ILLUSTRATIONS
Early Drainage ................ ....... ..................... 12
Beaver Drain ..................................... ...... . 18
Lateral Drains . ....... ....... U.................... .......19
Seed-bed preparation by disking only .......................27
Plowing Muck Sod ...........................
Breaking New Muck ...... ............ . ....................... 35
General Crops on Muck ...................... ............ ....40
Sunflowers On Cultural Project ........... ................. I‘9
Fertility Plots ........ ................... ' ................ 107

Meadow Fertilization .. ............ . ....... ................116

Heavy Concrete Roller ........ ....................... ...... SS

CHARTS
Plate I: Location of Experimental Plots ........ .. Frontispiece
Plate II: Arrangement of Cultural Experiments............. 52a

Plate III: Arrangement of Fertilizer Experiments...........87a

PART I .
INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION.

The problems involved in the management of muck soils
differ greatly from those encountered in handling mineral,
or upland, soils. Even among the various mucks themselves,
there are vast differences in their responses to identical
methods of treatment. Thus, the muck farmer finds himself
entangled in complications totally unlike those which are
common on the uplanda,and his search for advice which
might aid in solving his prdblems, is often rewarded only
by a collection of contradictory information.

It is unlikely that a definite standard of procedure-

a manual of rule-of-thumb directions for soil tillage, such
as we have for mineral soils- can ever be established for
the management of muck lands. The agricultural experiences
of every muck farmer, doubtless, will always be essentially
different from those of his fellows.

And yet, by exhaustive experiments on typical deposits of
muck- experiments which investigate the reaponses of the
soils to diffErent methods of drainage, tillage. and
fertilization, and to the use of different crop varieties-
it should be possible to arrive at conclusions which may
form a dependable guide to the successful management of muck
soils.

It is due. again, to the great variation found among mucks,
that experimental work in this field must be highly
specialized. Each series of investigations must be conducted
upon an area which may be considred as representative of a
definite type of muck soil, but which has distinctly

individual characteristics in physical preperties, climatic

conditions, and adaptability to crops.

This manuscript deals with such a series of investigations.
It confines itself to a discussion of field work with
general crops grown on a tamarack-cedar muck tract. which
is in the process of reclamation, and which is located in

the west central portion of the lower penhsula of Michigan.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS.

In a study of muck soils, the search for a background of
literature brings a full realization that this work is in a
relatively pioneer field. Most of the basic literature is
too technical to be applied such practical field experiments
as are under discussion here.

There are, however, a few publications which deal with
previous eXperimental work in muck culture, and the results
of those investigations are of great value as a check upon,
or, perhaps more correctly, as contrasts to the conclusions
Awhich suggest themselves from the data secured in this
particular series of experiments.

A digest, of such parts of previous reports as have a
direct bearing upon the title of this thesis, follows:

* ”Of all the general farm crops for peat soils, hay seems

by far the most important. -------- Peat lands are excellent
for hay, but less suited to the production of grains (although)
----- of the small grains, rye, both winter and spring
varieties, oats, barley, and buckwheat have been found most
successful, giving as good yhlds as on mineral soils.

Bolling; ”In Europe the use of a very heavy roller on peat
lands is now recognized as one of the most useful Operations---
all experiments elsewhere have confirmed this on poorly
decomposed pests, and only in one case has any unfavorable
effect, even upon well decomposed high lime peats, been
reported.

Drainage: "On deep peat” (over 4 ft.)'---- one must count
on thorough drainage by numerous Open ditches or tile lines.
In Minnesota in very wet seasons, there may be no lessening

in yields due to over-drainage, but the average returns

will probably prove so much higher where the water-level
is regulated that provision should be made for such control----”

Chemical Requirements. ' The most common initial need of
our unproductive peat soils is phosphate. A later requirement
of potash is to be expected on all bags upon which the peat
layer is neither exceptionally shallow nor rich in mineral
matter from washed-in sediment.“

Golden Valley Experiments: ' Available phosphate is lacking,
and when supplied, good yields of most crops are obtained.
Potash has shown no distinctly beneficial effect ------ this
potash sufficiency should not be expected to continue long.
Flax, oats, winter rye and field peas are the most promising
grains.” The danger of summer frosts, the threatened potash
exhaustion, and the good growth of grasses and cloves combine
to make the production of milk, beef, mutton, and wool the
most promising use of these peat lands when properly fertilized
Other general conclusions from the two year experiments at
Golden Valley are as follows:

Sweet clover yielded highest and showed the most marked

effect of various fertilizer treatments. Rolling

plowed land with the heavy roller caused a marked

increase in yields of sweet clover, western rye grass,

and timothy-clover hay in every case. From general

observations it was concluded that grain yields were

not increased by rolling, although growth and lodging

were increased. Unproductive peat may be made

productive by either acid phosphate or stable manure

or by burning. Burning is recommended only under very

favorable conditions, where the fire can be carefully

controlled and a shallow skiming of the top layer of

--.—-—.

soil can be effected without bringing the water

table too near the resulting surface.

Soil conditions reported for Ontario are for the most part
in direct conflict with the usual situation in Michigan mucks,
as, for example, in the following Ontario conclusions:

{Muck soils supporting a tamarack or black spruce

vegetation will be found unproductive. muck with a sandy

subsoil invariably yields poor results. The greater

the depth of the muck, the poorer the soil will be. No

attempt to utilize the muck should be made until the

water table has been reduced to at least forty inches

below the surface.

mibAn Ohio report confirms the prevailing idea that a chemical
analysis is not a true index to the crop-producing capacity

of muck. Potash, it decides, is the greatest need of most
mucks, because of the great tendency of potash salts to leach
out of these soils. Unlike the Ontario publication reported
just above, the Ohio Bulletin affirms that the character of
the substratum is unimportant if the muck is over two or three
feet deep. Corn, oats, and hay are said to thrive best on
shallow peat where a clay subsoil lies within a foot of the
surface. On drainage, the Ohio recommendation is to delay

any tiling until open ditches have been functioning for

three years, the length of time required for a newly

drained muck to settle. éA treatise on "The management of

Muck land farms in northern Indiana and southern Michigan”,***
strongly advocates grain and livestock farming for the muck

soils of this locality. As opposed to methodaof

at Ontario Bull etin #178

teams. Bulletin # 761 an Ohio Monthly )mngtin May 1919.

intensive truck farming, the use of these lands for the
production of general crops and livestock is, according
to Smalley, a much safer enterprise, although the returns
per acre may be less. He supports this contention by the
arguments that the profits for any one of the intensive
crops may be destroyed any year by over-production of the
crop, and that the greater costs of labor, tillage,
marketing, etc, for truck crOps more than off set, on the
average, the greater returns.

This resume' then, brief as it is, accounts for most
of the published literature directly applicable to the
line of work with which this thesis concerns itself. It
is encouraging, to say the least, that the muck experiments
now being conducted throughout the state are so much more
extensive, more practical and more accurate, than those of
the past, that we may hope to secure, within the near future,
a collection of data which will form for further investigations
a much more servicable background than present students are

able to secure.

PART II.
HISTORY OF THE MUCK TRACT

10

A. Location and General Descriptiqn;

 

The field experiments which form the basis for this report
were located in Oceana County, Michigan, in Section twenty-
eight, Leavitt Township, on a tract of muck land known as
"The A. F. Sippy Ranch"; owned by Dr. A. F. Sippy of Chicago.
The ranch lies fourteen miles east and two miles south of
the town of Hart, the nearest railway station. Mhskegon is
approximately forty miles southwest, and Walkerville, the
Post Office, is located four miles north of the central ranch
buildings.

The soil and topographical conditions of the adjacent
farms defy accurate description, due to the amazing variation
found. On the whole, however, the soil immediately east and
south of the ranch is rather hilly, and from light sand to a
good quality of sandy loam. North and east of the ranch
the soil is mostly heavier-clay or clay loam- and more level.
Stony areas are found here and there; and nearly all of the
farms have some muck. A large area of muck land, which was
developed by Dr. B. W. Sippy of Chicago, adjoins the A. F.
Sippy Ranch at the north-east. The most usual enterprises
on the neighboring farms are dairying, rye, bean and potato
raising, and fruit growing, although the locality is slightly
too far to the east to be included in the great Lake Michigan
fruit belt. The farms are, for the most part, small- perhaps
averaging eighty acres in area. All kinds and conditiomaof
development are to be found- the prosperous, well managed
improved farms rubbing shoulders with abandoned blow sand hills,
victims of years of destructive farming methods. There are

no large units of muck soil except those mentioned above.

l!

The A. F. Sippy Ranch itself may be most aptly described
as a deposit of muck land fringed with a border of sandy
soil. Also, a tongue of sandy upland, lieing east and west,
divides the muck area included in the western half of
the ranch. Variations from this general statement are as
follows: An area of clay loam occurs at the north-east
border of the ranch; there is no upland along the northern
border; the south-western corner of the ranch is dandy upland.

The topographical details are shown more clearly in the
accompanying map. (Plate 1) As the map shows, the
experimental plots are located near the mouth of the eastern
lateral north-south drain, known as ditch # 1. They are
placed, there rather centrally, in the south-western

quarter of the ranch.

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Beginning the Beaver (1

B. Drainage.
At the time of its purchase in 1915 by Dr. A. F. Sippy,

the lowlands of the ranch were an undrained swamp- part

of what were generally known as the ”Beaver flats”. This

name was taken from the name of the creek which wound
sluggishly through the swamp, taking away through its

shallow basin none of the surplus of water which rendered the
land unfit for tillage. The Beaver creek was in reality

the outlet of the lake which still remains on the ranch,
although it has been greatly reduced in size by drainage.

The lake is usually called “East Lake“ though the names
"Sorter" and ”Mud" are also applied to it.

Obviously, the first step in the reclamation of the swamp
was to get rid of the water, and this was made possible, in
1916, by the "Beaver Drain”- a drainage project conducted
by the County. This drain has its source in the east shore
of East Lake, carrying due east for one and one-fourth miles,
whence it bears north-east for an equal distance, then
turning east again. The drain continues along the same general
course as that held by the old Beaver creek; so that at the
completion of the dredging the old creek bed winds across and
around the ditch in innumerable intersections. Seven miles
from its source, the Beaver drain empties into the Beaver
River- which pursues in general a northerly course and empties
into the Pere Marquette- which flows back west into Lake
Michigan.

This particular ditching operation was carried out by
means of a floating gasoline dredge, which was assembled and

built within a stones throw of the present ditch. Parts for

W
the dredge were ahuled in with teams to a sandy knoll
northeast of the lake, and here the machinery was assembled.
The entire working unit of the dredge was installed on a
heavy timber frame work, designed to float, and to carry the
weight of the machines. The long boom, and scoop extended
forward from the floating platform. It is eloquent of the
saturated condition of the soil at that time, that immediately
with the beginning of excavation, enough water collected
to float the dredge readily. The machine dug its way to the
shore of the lake and then proceeded down the true right
of way of the ditch.

The results obtained from the Beaver Drain were very
satisfactory, and was a great encouragement to the owner of
the land to continue with his drainage project. Immediately
with the completion of the Beaver, the soil along its banks
began to dry out, and within one season a strip, of perhaps
forty rods in width, along each bank was rendered dry enough
for any agricultural operation.

With an outlet now at hand, it became possible to develops a
system of lateral drains. These, as a rule, were laid out
in a north and south direction, emptying, of course, into
the Beaver. Five of them were dug by a Monagan gasoline
dredge, owned by Dr. B. W. Sippy, and several small ones
were dug by hand labor.

The first of these lateral ditches is the one most
important to this discussion- because of the location of
the field experiments near its bank. The width and depth
of this drain is typical of all of the power-dug laterals.
It is about twelve feet from bank to bank at the surface

and about six feet across the bottom. The average depth

15‘

is about five feet.

The small hand ditches, which were put in later, were
in each case for the purpose of carrying off some localized
excess of water, and play little part in the general scheme
of drainage. Hand ditch A (in the chart) removes the excess
of water from a creek on Section 21 which otherwise would
flood the meadows in the spring; B drains an area of
unusually low land around its source.

As an outstanding peculiarity of this drainage shheme,
the wide separation of the laterals must at once be mentioned.
It would be difficult for one unfamiliar with this particular
sort of muck soil structure to realize that it is possible
to secure ample drainage of the soil between ditches nearly
one hundred rods apart- especially in the case of a soil
which, previous to draining, was practically under water
throughout each entire summer. Nevertheless, satisfactory
drainage has been achieved by means of this simple system
of open ditches- and there are very few spots within the limits
of these drains which can not be worked with a wheel tractor,
even in the spring of the year. -

Indeed, the prdblem of over-drainage has become at times
nearly as important as that of getting rid of the water. In
periods of drought the land near the ditch banks tends to
dry out excessively, and at such times the crop yield may be
seriously affected. To avoid, in part, such losses, the idea
of installing dams in some of the main laterals, has been
considered. A concrete dam has already been constructed near

the mouth of lateral # l,‘but has not yet been put to use.
There is little doubt of the practicability of backing up

[k

the water in these drains, however, for a system of
dams has long been in use successfully under similar conditions

on the neighboring preperty of Dr. B. W. Sippy.

18

 

 

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Showing Source
of Beaver Drain.

 

 

 

 

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Beaver Drain, before
Completion of Outlet

 

 

First Lateral Drain

 

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Dredge Using

Brush Hooks.
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C. Burning.

The effect of burning off the surface of muck soils is one
of the most interesting phases of the subject. Variable
and contradictory reports of the results from such burning
are available- ranging all the way from absolute ruinct
the agricultural value of the burned areas, to such an
amazing increase in the fertility of the soil as to influence
muck farmers in some localities to burn for'the same purpose
that their better-informed neighbors fertilize.

Practically all of the muck land now under cultivation on
the A. F. Sippy Ranch has been burned over, but, fortunately,
itiagricultural value has not been lowered by this burning,
except in unimportant, isolated cases. Some of this burning
has been done deliberately as a first essential step in
land clearing- in which event the fires were set during a
certain condition of soil moisture and were carefully controlled.
But by far the greatest burn-off was in the summer of 1920,
when a great fire started from the carelessness of a workman's
burning brush during a drought. The drainage program was at
this time nearly complete, and the soil had had several seasons
in which to dry out thoroughly. Much of the lowland shrubs
and trees had died or withered up from lack of their accustomed
moisture, and formed thickets of highly inflammable kindling.
A dry spell of four weeks duration had added to the fire
danger- and so when flames started there was no possibflity
whatever of controlling them. Practically all of the drained
muck on the ranch burned over during this fire- and all within
the space of five days. During this time the sky was filled

with a reddish.brown smoke which was seen from Pentwater,

nJ

twenty-five miles away;- the peculiar odor of smoldering

muck drifted all over the vicinity; innumerable tamaracks,

their roots burned off in the muck, kept crashing to the ground.
When the fire finally burned itself out in the undrained

swamps there was only an occassional crag of a tree left
standing in the area which had been a jungle of tamarack,

cedar, and undergrowth only a few days before. Fortunately,

the fire had travelled rapidly and there had been moisture
enough below the surface so that the soil was burned off

evenly to a depth of about one foot only.

Had it been possible to follow in right after the fire
with a crew of workmen to pile chunks and stumps, the
burn would have been of enormous value in clearing the land.
But it was almost impossible to get labor during that season;
so the work done by thefire was taken advantage of only over
a relatively small area, and much of the tract is now
reverting to brush and weeds.

There have been other extensive accidental fires both before
and after the one in 1920. On one occassion about twenty-five
acres of timothy sod burned off completely, necessitating a
complete re-clearing of the roots and chunks from the layer of
soil newly exposed. In no case has any injury to the

productivity of the soil seemed to result from burning.

D. Clearings

Most of the land clearing on the ranch has been done on
an acre basis- that is, an area of land of relatively uniform
difficulty of clearing is selected and measured, and the job
'let' to thezpplicant, at a certain price per acre. The
idea has always been to begin operations on strips of land
most easily cleared- in fact the earliest reclamation of land
was secured at a cost of only eight dollars per acre for the
clearing, while the average payments per acre for land cleared
have varied from ten to fifteen dollars. The economy of this
plan is readily apparent- for by such a program it is possible
to make a considerable amount of land productive at a
minimum cost; so that returns from these fields may aid in
.the payment of the more expensive clearing costs for other
land. The disadvantages are that the fields thus secured may
be too small for the most economical operation/g¥% often
located inconveniently to the buildings and roads.

The first step in clearing is invariably to get a 'burn'
over the area. By this it is not necessarily meant that the
soil is burned- in fact the muck itself is seldom intentionally
fired. The burning is usually done in the early spring just
before growth starts. At this time though brush and weeds
are usually somewhat packed down as a result of the winters
snow, and, if there has been a comparatively dry period since
the melting of the last snow, it is often possible to get a
very satisfactory removal of brush, briars, weeds, sticks, etc.,
by a quick fire, which cannot burn into the wet and frosty
ground. Successful burns are seldom secured in the fall and

in the summers the muck is too dry to allow the risk of a fire.

13’

As soon as the ashes are cool, the clearer begins to

“log off“ his piece ( i.e. remove the stumps and roots).

This is the most wearisome of operation, for there seems

to be no end to the number of roots and chunks, which often
almost completely cover the ground. Even though the clearing
agreement stipulates that only roots on the surface of the
ground need be removed, there is always enough of such
material to convince the workman that he has earned his money.
The first step is usually for men, working in pairs, to start
piles of chunks at convenient places in the field using

roots etc, which are nearby and can readily be piled by hand.
Next the heavy roots, stumps, and logs which cannot be lifted,
are snaked to the piles with a team, and flapped on the piles
by means of a decking chain. There are very few stumps

which are too firmly rooted to be jerked out by a team
trained to the work- for the roots are, of course, imbedded
only in the surface of the soil, which is so loose as to offer
little resistance. Careful men will take considerable pains
in starting their piles of this heavy material, for a finm
foundation will make it possible for them to build large,
tight piles which will burn up almost completely and lessen
the work of repiling after the fires.

When the large stumps and logs,have been removed, it is
often the practice to cruise about the field with a horse-
drawn ”toad”, or long ane boat, upon which device are
loaded such remaining roots as could not be conveniently
lifted into a low wagon. This material is drawn to the
piles on the toad.

The rest of the logging is most expeditiously done with the

aid of a low wagon with a wing-sided hay rack. This wagon

is drawn slowly back and forth across the field, starting

at one end of the area, and systematically working toward

the other end. A man walks at each side of the wagon, tossing
the loose roots and chunks on the rack. As soon as a load is
collected one of the men drives to the nearest pile and unloads
while the other man goes over the next strip to be picked up,
loosening up tight roots with a spade and perhaps throwing
some of the chunks into small piles which can be loaded into
the wagon more rapidly. In this way the field is finally
picked clean of most of the roots, which are now in great
piles about the field.

If the field is small and if the intention is to get
a crOp in the year of the clearing, the piles are often
made at the side of the field as a long winrow to be burned
the next spring. But in any event, the piles should stand
a year to dry out thoroughly before they are fired. If they
are dry and closely piled, the roots will burn up very
satisfactorily and require little re—chunking. Pieces of
logs and stumps which are not entirely consumed are hauled
outside of the_fie1d and piled.

The method thus described has so far seemed the most
practicable means of getting land cleared under the condition.
prevailing in the locality. And yet it is so difficult to
employ men who are skilled enough at such work to make it
profitable for them, that the amount of clearing which can
be done in this way is very limited. Most men dislike to
take the risk of contracting for a clearing job on an acre

basis, and the alternative of hiring men by the day for such

g

work has not proved very satisfactory. The work is hard,
dirty and monotonous, and without thesaimulus of receiving
payment for amount of land cleared rather than time put in,
day laborers are apt to prove unprofitable to their employer.

Many efferts have been made to evolve a system of clearing
which would reduce the amount of hand labor required. An
enterprising neighbor devised a sort of derrick, or "jammer",
operated by a twelve horsepower gasoline engine, which was
designed to snatch and pile the stumps. This machine proved
entirely impracticable- it was too light to keep from tipping
when piling heavy stumps, and too heavy to be skidded about
by a team. Another derrick, similar to a hay stacking
out-fit, and operated by a horse and a system of pulleys, was
used for some time in making large piles of stumps. The
machine worked well and built very good piles, but so much
time was consumed in taking it down and resetting it for
each pile that progress was too slow to be profitable. The
gasoline dredge which dug the lateral drains is an excellent
machine for this work, but of course its Operation is entirely
too expensive to allow its use economically for the purpose.
The tractor is often used for jerking stumps and stubborn
roots, but it is not much more effective for this purpose
than horses, because of the difficulty of getting traction
in the loose soil when the drawbar is hitched to an unyielding
load.

An enormous compound hook, constructed for use on the boom
of a gasoline dredge, was given a trial during ditching
operations on the ranch. This hook was designed to be drOpped
into a thicket of brush, which could then be clawed out and

piled. The device removed the brush successfully, but took

«26

so much soil along with the roots of the brush that the

land thus cleared would be practically unfit for cultivation.
The use of the hook for land clearing was abandoned, although
it proved to be of value in removing brush before dredging.

Dynamite is frequently used in the land-clearing Operations,
but chiefly as a means of splitting and loosening large
stumps rather than for actually blowing them out. Heavy
blasting results in deep pockets in the muck which are miry
and cannot be tilled.

In short, none of the attempts to reduce the man power
needed for this kind of clearing have been successful. There
seems to be no mechanical means of gathering up the innumerable
small roots- and that, after all, is the longest and most

costly part of the clearing process.

SEED-BED PREPARATION BY DISKING ONLY ‘3?'

First

Disking

 

 

Twice

 

over

 

 

 

 

 

 

E. First Tillage;

Immediately following clearing,the soil is in excellent
condition for seed-bed preparation without plowing. The
fire has removed all sod, and killed the weed seeds, leaving
a loose surface which yields readily to the action of the
disk harrow. A Fordson tractor and a set of tandem disks
is the combination always used on this farm on new land in
this condition. Once over going around the field and once
over on Opposite diagonals, and the soil is thoroughly worked
up to a depth of about six inches, and the ashes are thoroughly
mixed in with the muck.

This Operation invariably throws out a new crOp of roots
and chunks, and so, after disking, it is necessary to traverse
the field once/git: a wagon and pick off these roots. It is
not practicable to use either a spring tooth or spike tooth
hariow on this new root infested land, nor would it be
necessary because the disk barrow gives perfect seed~bed
preparation without catching on the roots as does the drag.

Winter rye is looked upon as the ideal first crop for this
soil. It is thrifty enough to win out in competition with
brush and weeds; it is put in in the fall when there is a
longer planting season than in the spring; its tall stiff
straw permits the binder table to be set high enough to miss
roots and snags; and its yield is good under most conditions.
Rye is seeded from a disk grain drill as early as possible
in September. It is drilled moderately deeply in the newly
disked muck, at the rate of about one and one-half bushels
per acre. Immediately after harvest, the stubble is usually
thoroughly disked and the roots picked off carefully. At

this stage the soil is ordinarily well subdued,and smooth
enough to warrant seeding down, and so another crOp of rye
may be planted, this time seeded with timothy and alsike for
a permanent meadow. In this way the field may be brought

into productivity at a minimum expense for tillage operations.

As a first crOp, for new ground which is ready in the
spring, either sunflowers or corn is excellent, except
for the danger Of frOst. There will be no growth of weeds
the first season after burning, and so itzb considered
unnecessary to cultivate either of these crOps when used in
this way. Either rye, oats or barley may follow the corn,
without the necessity of plowing. I

Millet is a successful first crOp, but there is again the
frost danger. Oats may be used, and in this case it is
found advisable to seed with sweet clover, which will make a
rank growth the second season to smother out any weeds or
brush, and yet which will die out after it is harvested, so
that the field can be fitted for another crOp by means of
the disk, without plowing.

It will be Observed that in these tillage operations, plowing
is avoided wherever it is at all possible to do so. Plowing
in this type of muck so interwoven with roots, is a most
difficult and expensive process. But the land must be plowed
when there is sod to be turned under, and so it has become
necessary to develops a method of plowing which will meet
the unusual conditions found in this muck.

For many years the only successful plow tried was the
'Marsh.Breaker" manufactured by the South Bend Plow Company.
This is an extremely light weight, long shared two-horse

walking plow, with a narrow landside, and a heavy slab

50
coulter reaching from point to beam. This seems to be by far
the most satisfactory walking plow on the market- its light
weight allows it to be disengaged readily from roots and
stumps, and lightens the draft on the team. If kept with
a razor edge, the slab coulter cuts through small or rotted
roots rather satisfactorily; and the plow turns over sod well
where it has a reasonable Opportunity to work. But at best,
plowing under these conditions is slow and tedious, with
continual delays for removing roots from the point/

' It was.not until this last season (1924) that a promising
means of plowing up the meadows on the ranch.was discovered.
A demonstration by the Oliver Plow Company was arranged, in
the hOpe of finding a tractor plow which would overcome the
Obstaclesto economical plowing Of root infested muck. Of
the various plows demonstrated, the only one which could do
the work satisfactorily was the Marsh and Brush Sulky # 41.
This is an implement of special design, and its success is
the result of several entirely new departures in construction,
which may be enumerated as follows;

1. Style of Coulter:
The feature which does by far the most to enable the plow
to Operate successfully is the giant rolling coulter which
is thirty-six inches in diameter, mounted on roller bearings
and so placed that its edge revolves just below and behind
the plow-point. When a root is encountered, this coulter
will either crush through it ( aided by the great weight of
the entire implement- about eight hundred and fifty pounds),
or, if the root is too large to be cut, the coulter will roll
over it, lifting the plow up and over the root so that the
plow-point cannot thrust itself into the obstacle. The

3!

wonderful advantage of such a coulter is at once apparent-
it practically eliminates the great handicap in muck plowing,
of stOpping continually to remove roots.

2. Great Clearance:

The plow bottom is carried fully three feet behind the frame,
or working parts, of the plow. This remarkably large throat
allows the stumps and roots, which inevitably turn out of
the ground, to escape readily without making the operator
stop to disengage them.

3. Heavy, Rigid, Construction;

A very few rounds in the field with any of the other plows
demonstrated revealed that they could not stand up under
such punishment as a tractor plow receives from continually
driving into roots and stumps. Coulters were bent, points
broken, and pins sheared Off. But the 41 Sulky made its way
through and over all these Obstacles without the least
damage to its rugged parts.

4. The Furrow Pusher Attachment:

Although the marsh sulky turns a twenty-two inch furrow,
like all other plows it throws the edge of one furrow upon
the furrow turned just before. The object in plowing muck,
is of course, to get as firm an arrangement of the furrow
slices as possible, with a minimum of air pockets. The only
device which completely accomplishes this object is the
furrow pusher attachment, which simply rides along behind the
moldboard and pushes the furrow slice, just after it turns,
over toward the plowed ground about six inches farther than it
would ordinarily fall. This allows the next furrow slice to
fall flat in the furrow, where the furrow pusher shoves it

up snugly against the edge of the last furrow slice, ultimately

3L

leaving a plowed surface which is very nearly as firm as the
meadow was before it was broken and which permits no
growth of grass at the furrow edges the next spring.

In spite of its great size and weight, the marsh sulky is
easily handled by a Fordson tractor- because muck offers, of
course, very little plowing resistance, and the plow can
be kept in motion instead of colliding with roots and
lodging frequently.

In addition to plowing sod, the marsh sulky has been used
with gratifying results on land which has stood for several
years since burning, and meanwhile grown over with brambles,
small pOpils and wild cherry trees, and weeds and brush of
all kinds. After the loose roots, stumps and logs are
removed from a field of this kind, the marsh sulky is put to
work, and succeeds beyond the most optomistic expectations
warranted by such a hOpeless project. Of course it is

impossible to secure a fancy job of plowing under such conditions

but the sulky will do what no other plow will do- tip over

the undergrowth and turn dirt on top of it. Heavy roots and
lags are jerked out of the ground so that they can be removed,
and poplar trees as tall as ten feet are often uprooted and
covered completely by the action of the plow. In this kind of
breaking it is advisable to have a skillful man walk along

beside the plow, to ride it when a patch of sod is encountered

or to help free it from roots, snags, etc and to keep the
furrow clean for the next round. It would be out of the
question to put in a crop directly on land plowed in this
fashion, but such plowing does make it possible to use the
disks on the field after the roots are removed and gradually

work the brush roots into submission.. If the land can be

'plowed"thus in the spring and disked at intervals during the
summer it will be roughly in shape for a crop of rye in the

fall.

.34

 

Three views of the
Oliver Marsh Sulky,
showing the furrow
pusher attachment
used in plowing a

muck sod.

 

 

 

' *I' V‘ < .1“ .
'.' Haw») . n \. “ ' ’
45'" emu} In?

I f“. '

‘

 

 

 

 

 

L--- i

35'

Breaking new muck with
the Marsh and Brush
Sulky. The 36 inch
rolling coulter, which
lifts the plow over
large roots and blind
stumps, is the feature
of construction which
makes this kind of

work practicable.

 

 

Lu
Qx

F. Adaptability of Cropsi

Necessarily, the crOpping system for this muckland must be
closely limited, for there are but few crops and crop varieties
which prove adapted to the peculiar nature of the soil, and
to the climatic conditions.

Frost may be considred as the chief limiting factor in the
choice of crOps- to the extent that those which are
appreciably susceptible to summer frosts can never be
planted without great risk. Corn, beans, potatoes, millet,
etc.. are hence seldom raised. However, about one season
in every four during the farming operations on the ranch,
has been successfully passed without frost, and these
occassional seasons have yielded remarkably high yields of
corn for ensilage. For this reason a field of about fifteen
acres is usually planted to corn, as a gambling project. Hay,
rye, oats, barley, and sunflowers can be raised with low
risk of freezing, although it is true that summer frosts
striking any one of these crops at certain periods in their
development may cause considerable damage.

Scarcity of labor is another limiting factor in the selection
of a crop rdation. Such crops as sugar beets, and special
muck crops, which require a great deal of attention during
the growing season, are avoided, because of the difficulty
of securing even enough labor to care for the ordinary
crOps grown.

The great distance from market also eliminates the advisability
of growing crops which have a large bulky product to be
marketed- e.g. beets, potatoes, etc.

Hay is considered by far the most suitable to the prevailing

conditions for the following reasons:

1. It is the safest, surest crOp for this 8011- a
dependable yielder, little affected by climatic
conditions.

2. It requires a minimum of labor .

3. It can‘be sold at a good price on the local
market. Fruit farmers around Hart and Shelby
buy most of the hay for their horses, and
little is grown in their vicinity.

4. Unmarketable hay or hay in excess of what is
sold, can be fed out to advantage to the
livestock on the ranch.

5. The aftermath can be utilized profitably for
summer and fall pasturing.

Timothy hay is, of course, the most easily cured, most
cheaply seeded and is in good favor with the buyers, and so
most of the hay sold as a cash crop is straight timothy or
timothy and alsike.Seedings are made in the fall with rye
and the meadows are not plowed up for five or six years.

A yield of two ton per acre may be expected on this soil and
the decrease in yield after this period of cropping, without
fertilization of any kind, has been slight. Hay is made in

the usual way- using a side delivery rake and cylinder hay

loader. The hay is cured in the winrow, and put up right
in the field- either fn stacks or in hay barracks. The
hay for sale is baled as soon as it is out of the sweat,
and trucked to market. The hay for feeding is left until
winter and hauled to the barns on sleighs.

The meadows to be plowed are turned over in the early

is
a

fall, and the land is disked and rolled with the heavy
concrete roller in the spring. Fields thus fitted are
usually planted to sunflowera or corn, or a mixture of the
two, for ensilage. The seed is drilled through an ordinary
grain drill in thirty-five inch rows. This crop is given
as little cultivation as possible- just enough to keep down
weeds and grass-, and is cut for ensilage immediately after
the first frost which damages the sunflowers. It is possible
to secure yields of from fifteen to twenty tons per acre of
sunflower silage in this way.

If the fields growing cultivated crops are to be seeded
back to timothy for a cash crop, the seeding is generally
made in the fall with rye. Immediately after silo filling,
the corn and sunflower stubble is thoroughly disked and rye
and timothy seed drilled. Alsike is broadcasted on these fields
from a fiddle seeder in the early spring at the rate of about
two pounds per acre.

If the hay from the seeding following the cultivated crop
is to be used for cattle feeding on the ranch, more clover
is desirable in the mixture, and so best results are secured
from spring seedings. Such seedings are made with oats or
barley, and consist of a mixture of about four pounds of
timothy, four pounds of red clover. and two pounds of alsike.
The oats or barley is sowed at the rate of from two to two
and one-half bushels per acre as soon as the sunflower fields
of the preceeding year are thoroughly dried out and disked up-
usually shortly after the first of May. Yields of about
forty bushels of barley and from fifty to sixty bushels of cats

may be expected in a favorable season. The cat straw is of

excellent quality and makes remarkably good roughage for
cattle feed.

Alfalfa, despite the prevailing Opinion that it is not
adapted to low land, is gradually gaining great favor as a
hay crop on muck. A small patch of alfalfa on the ranch is
now starting its fourth year with an apparently perfect
stand- no winter killing or June grass encroachment whatever
being noticeable. A larger field is entering its second
season with hardly the loss of a plant since seeding. Stands
are very readily secured without liming or fertilization by
sowing in the spring from ten to fifteen pounds of seed
per acre either alone, or with barley, oats, or rye. The hay
can be out only twice yearly, but yields fairly well and makes
hay of excellent quality.

Sweet clover has been used with success as a hwy crop,
although it makes a very rank growth unless out early. It is
somewhat difficult to cure, but when made properly it is eaten

readily bu cattle.

4O

fl-"‘“r~ *1 pence fl“ 'r'f'v};
J L

-~.¥.'-L1.' J4." .-.;v'

u; .-.,4. ad -

 

 

 

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”I

G. Livestock_ganagement;

It is the preper handling of a large amount of livestock
which makes it possible to arrive at a satisfactory operation
of a ranch consisting of an extensive rough range, a
considerable area of muck, growing general crops, and a
quantity of light sandy soil.

Cattle can be pastured very economically during the spring
and early summer on the cheap, uncleared swamp areas and
unbroken high land. Also, ewes can lamb and pasture, on
cutover land during the early season while grass is good.
By the time that these rough pastures begin to fail, in
late July, the aftermath on the muck meadows is ready for
grazing. There is, of course, a very luxureant growth
of grass on these meadows, and cattle and lambs can be
brought to a very good grass finish early in the fall.

At present the ranch program includes the wintering of
about one hundred head of cattle ( about half of which are
breeding cows or heifers), and about two hundred ewes.
About fifteen cows are milked and the butterfat sold. The
skim milk is fed out to fattening hogs, and to the calves
from the milch cows. A few hogs ( about twenty) are
fattened each year.

The beef herd consists mostly of grade Herefords.and is
being developed on the ranch from common native cows, of
chiefly Bed Polled or Shorthorn foundation, which were
gradually brought up in the vicinity. The second Hereford
cross is resulting in a very satisfactory degree of
uniformity and beef type in the herd. The cows are bred

to calve in the late spring and early summers, and the calves

fiUZ

are allowed to run with their dams until fall. Any of the
calves which do not promise well as beef type animals are
usually sold during the summer as large veal. Cows of four
or five years, which have attained their full growth, are
dried up in the late summer, and grass-fattened for sale

in the fall. Steer calves are wintered twice, and sold as
long two-year-olds off grass.

It is very evident that the profits in such an undertaking
must be very small per animal unit and so operations must
be conducted very economically and on a relatively large
scale. The cows are wintered entirely on roughage- a limited
amount of silage along with cat straw and rather inferior
hay. Calves and yearlings are also wintered on roughage-
but with more liberal rations of silage, and better quality
hay. The cattle come through the winter in fair flesh,
and the cows have a few weeks of grazing in which to get
in good condition for calving.

The cattle selected for fattening on the meadow aftermaths
include all full-grown and barren cows and all two-year old
steers. They make very rapid gains, and are usually in fair
condition for sale by late September. Up to the present time,
all such cattle have been sold to local butchers at an
average return of about five dollars per hundred. It has
not been thought advisable to begin shipping to the Chicago
markets until carlots of uniform stock become available.

Sheep raising has proved to be a profitable venture on
the ranch, and is rapidly increasing in importance. Ewes
are wintered solely on alfalfa or clover hay and bean pods

with a moderate ration of cats, or cats and bran in the early

‘43

spring before lambing time. .The wether lambs are shipped

to the Detroit market in the fall after two months grazing
with their.mothers on the muck meadow aftermaths. None of

the predicted difficulties from pasturing sheep on low

ground ( foot rot, colds,etc.,) have been encountered, and the
sheep thrive and fatten on the well-drained meadows.

Dairying is conducted only as a Sideline, to aid in the
economical distribution of the labor on the ranch. Most of
the milking is done in the summer and fall while the cows
are on pasture, but the tendency now is to increase the
number of winter milch cows. Dual purpose cows- Red Polled
and dairy Shorthorns- are mostly used, due to the value of
their wives to the beef herd, but the intention now is to
develop a small herd of Guernsey cows for the future. The
cows are also pastured on the muck meadows.

Little purebred livestock business is done outside of the
use of purebred sires. A small but select flock of registered
Shropshire Sheep is maintained- chiefly to ensure a supply
of good rams. A few registered Hereford females are kept in
addition to the purebred bulls. The location of the ranch
is not favorable to any large-scale purebred breeding of beef
cattle or sheep.

Livestock, in addition to the direct returns from their
products, are aiding wonderfully in the development of the
ranch. The extensive areas of old, tillable sandy soil are
becoming amazingly productive as a result of liberal
applications of barnyard manure. The fertilization which is,
or which may become necessary on the muck can be obtained

by means of a commercial fertilizer, probably muriate of potash

l];{

and the manure made from the feeding of muck grown crops
can be applied to the upland soil which responds so well

to the nitrOgenous constituents and organic matter of the

barnyard manure.

PART I I I .
EXPER IMENTAL W ORK

EXPERIMENTAL WORK.

Experimental studies of muck soil conditions on the ranch
have been in progress for three seasons. These investigations
may be roughly classified into three divisions.

1. Studies of tillage methods on muck.

2. Studies of the adaptability of crops

and crop varieties to this soil.

3. Studies of the fertility needs of the soil.

The third division of the experimental work consists chiefly
of an orthodox fertility project, similar to those conducted
by the College on muck areas in various parts of the state.
The first and second divisions of the work, however. present
material which results from a far more unusual field of
investigation, and concerning which very few authentic
reports are available. It is to be regretted that the results
from the extensive cultural and variety tests carried out
at the ranch are as incomplete as they are- a succession of
summer frosts during two seasons destroyed crOps which were
nearly ready for report. The sequence of the studies is hence
seriously broken, and it is necessary in some instances
to present data for one season which is unconfirmed by
repetition. Nevertheless, it is true that, in most cases,
general observations for the second season appeared to confirm

the original data.

4;

Character of the Soil for the Experimentgl_flggk;

The area of muck chosen for the first experimental projects,
in 1922, was selected with the idea of securing a field
which would be representative of the most common soil conditions
to be found on the ranch. As the map shows, the area is
located at the corner of the Beaver and lateral drain number
one. This insures good drainage,although any of the land
within forty rods of either the Beaver or one of its laterals
is fully as dry. Before it was cleared, this area of land
supported a dense growth of tamarack and cedar, with a
profusion of undergrowth of great variety.

In 1918 it was burned over during the early summer, at a
time when the muck had dried out enough to burn off for the
most part, to a uniform depth of a few inches. Some burn-out
pockets resulted, but in no case did the muck burn down to
a depth of over one foot.

The land was hastily cleared in 1920 and oats broadcasted
and disked in. A fair ybld resulted. The next year the
stubble was disked up and corn planted. That season, an
enormous crop of ensilage was cut. with no cultivation of the
corn whatever. The burning, in 1918, had evidently destroyed
all weed seeds and grass, and there had not as yet been time
for a new encroachment of such material.

The first step, after the selection of the experimental
tract in the fall of 1921, was to make a thorough survey of the
soil over the area, which included about five acres. The
average depth of muck undoubtedly exceeds eight feet, except
immediately adjacent to the tongue of sand which comes to the
surface, as shown on the chart. No plots were put on near

this sand, however, so no further mention of that feature of

.. II II I'll‘

 

43
the field need be made. Other surface variations, such as
shallow burn-outs, and such minor irregularities, were
infrequent and insignificant enough to be ignored.

The surface soil seemed to be moderately well advanced in
decomposition, although it is true that a considerable portion
of the surface soil was clumped together in the light, flaky
clods characteristic of a sedge deposit of an earlier stage
in decomposition. For the most part, however, the surface
soil appeared to be well pulverized and decomposed.

Studies of the soil profile were made, at regular intervals
throughout the field, to a depth of from four to five feet.
As has been suggested above, the appearance of the first
six inches of the soil profile suggested a sedge foundation.
The probability of sedges as the original vegetation was
more markedly evidenced in the lower sections of the profile.
With increased depth, the muck became gradually a lighter
brown in color, and the layers of slightly decomposed
vegetative material in the samples became more distinct.
Although the lower sections were found to be very raw and
slippery to the touch, they gave no appearance of a
colloidal structure.Alcomposite of the surface soil samples
was collected and taken to the College for chemibal analysis.

It is only in the most general way that this muck'can be
descriptively classified. In a vague manner, the soil may be
listed in the “Swamp group of peat materialfi, sub-classified
as “the coniferous forest type of mucku‘ ‘ 'This means that
the soil used in these experiments has supported a chiefly
coniferous type of vegetation- but this statement must be

qualified by granting that there was an appreciable inter

A Dnnhnnwckvin n1 accif‘ina-finn-

In organizing this report of experimental studies it
has been thought advisable to group the account into three
divisions: l.e. Cultural experiments, variety tests,
and fertility experiments. The method of discussion will
be to give the history of each crop used in each experimental
division, throughout the entire period of experiments
with that crop. Results, therefore, will be presented
consecutively from 1922. 1923 and in some cases 1924

experiments, for each crop under discussion.

CULTURAL EXPERIMNTS

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,fifiL
CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS
The objects of the cultural experiments were as follows:
To compare plowing vs not plowing
To compare spring plowing vs fall plowing
To study the effect of various rolling
operations as compared with no rolling
To study the effect of cultivating corn
and sunflowers.

In the cultural experimental projects put on during the
three years of study at the ranch; corn, sunflowers, timothy,
spring rye, fall rye. and cats were the crOps used.

In all cases the plots were uncommonly large, and every
attempt was made to carry on the work under practical field
conditions. All plots were fertilized uniformly at the
rate of 300#.Acid Phosphate and 250# Muriate of Potash per
acre. All cultural treatments. except those which formed
the basis of each particular phase of the experiment, were
identical.

Plowing was done with a sixteen inch walking marsh breaker,
horse drawn. A seven foot set of tandem disks. drawn by a
Fordson tractor. were used for the disking. The corn and
sunflowers were cultivated with one-horse. spring tooth
cultivators, which can be handled advantageously among roots.

The roller used in the cultural experiments demands a
somewhat detailed explanation, as it is as yet difficult to
obtain a roller, on the market. which meets the requirements
of muck soils. and hence a muck roller must be of private
construction. Several forms of muck rollers have been
devised, and it is likely that some of the rollers, designed
since the one used in these experiments, have more desirable

features of construction. However, this roller is fully as

effective as any in firming the soil. and can be constructed

SE?
with very little expense or labor. The details of its
construction follow;

Two sheets of boiler-plate, rolled and riveted to fonm
cylinders two feet long and thirty-two inches in diameter,
were purchased. The cylinders were placed on end on a
plank platform, and a two-foot length of two inch water
pipe was set upright in the exact center of each. This
pipe was held in place at the bottom by'a shallow two inch
hole in the platform, and at the t0p by a wooden framework.
The cylinders were then filled with a 2:4;6 concrete mix,
which was allowed to set for three weeks. A heavy plank
framework of the style shown in the illustrations was
constructed meanwhile. This framework was equipped at each
side with a six inch bearing, of two inch water pipe, as
shown.

When ready, the cylinders were placed in position within
the framework, and a one and three-fourths inch steel shaft
of proper length was inserted through the entire assembly.
The two sections of roller were separated from one another,
and from the bearings, by three sbel collars on the shaft.
Ordinary pipe caps were screwed on the outer ends of the
bearings, and the roller was complete.

Nearly all of the material for this roller was purchased
at a Junk or old iron shop. The actual cost of materials,
exclusive of concrete and lumber for the roller described
above, was sixteen dollars. After the materials were
collecbd only a little over one day was required for two
unskilled men to complete all of the labor of construction.

The finished roller weighs nearly 3500 pounds, thus exerting
a pressure of about 850 pounds per foot of length.

This is even a greater firming pressure than that

advocated by the Austrian authoritieszIEOO kg. per 1.5
meter). or by the Minnesota Station’KléOO lbs. per yard).
The roller is handled readily under all conditions by a
Fordson tractor. The double cylinder construction is of
considerable value in turning corners with the heavy roller,
because it is possible for the outer cylinder to rotate
faster on the turn than does the inner half of the roller.
The axle of the roller is readily lubricated by withdrawing
the shaft partly, first at one end and then at the other,

and applying grease.

i"'llinnesota Bulletin #184.

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(A) CULTURAL 1333121st WITH SUNFLOWERS.

As the chart shows, the cultural work with sunflowers for
ensilage was undertaken on an entire acre of land, April
20th..1923, this plot was divided in half longitudinally,
and one half was plowed. The other half was disked twice.
and the entire plot was harrowed once with a spring-tooth
drag. 250# Muriate of Potash and 300# Acid Phosphate were
applied broadcast, and dragged in with a spike-tooth harrow.

The plot was not worked again until May 28th.. when a
thorough spike-tooth dragging was given to the soil Just
previous to planting the sunflower seed. On may 30th..
Russian sunflower seed was drilled longitudinally, in 35
inch rows, from an ordinary grain drill. A good uniform
stand was secured.

Rolling txeatments. before and after planting, were given
as listed in the tables which follow.

By June 30th.. the field was becoming rather weedy, and so
the cultivating experiments were started. Each half of
the plot ( one plowed the other disked), was subdivided.
longitudinally, into three equal parts. In each case, the
central one-sixths received no cultivation, the next pair
in sequence were cultivated twice, and two outside one-
sixths were cultivated four times during the season. The
cultivations were made on June 30th.. July 9th., 16th..
and 23rd.

From the outset. the sunflowers on the unplowed half were
very evidently developing more rapidly and vigorously than
those on the plowed area.

Only in one or two cases could any benefit from the rolling

treatments be distinguished by mere general observation.

By the time of the third cultivation, it became apparent
that, in spite of the weeds, the uncultivated strips were
growing more thriftily than the cultivated plants.

A frost July 4th., which killed corn, damaged the sunflowers
only slightly and temporarily.

The sunflowers were harvested late in September, by the
following method; Workmen cut off the stalks by hand and
stepped upon a platform scale for weighing, after which their
own weights were deducted. The total weights for each of
the 42 plots harvested were thus secured. After weighing,
the sunflowers were ensiloed.

The sunflower cultural experiment for 1923 was put on in
exactly the same manner, on the acre of land used for corn
in 1922. Very fortunately a killing frost in July, and another
in August completely ruined the crOp, so that no definite
results can be presented. The only significant observation
made during the period of growth of the sunflowers in 1923
was that the uncultivated portions in both the plowed and
unplowed halves of the field were becoming overpowered by
the weed growth, which was far more serious than in 1922.

As before, the unplowed half showed by far the better

growth of sunflowers, up to the time of the frost.

 

LBLE

I.

Yields per Acre of Sunflowers, Grown on Plowed and Unplowed Muck, which had Received

Different Rolling Treatments and Diférent Oultivations.

Plot
4 Cult.

1. Not Rolled 10.6 lbns 8.8 ‘l‘ons

2.Rolled once

before plant-
ing 12.9

5.Rolled 5
times before
planting 15.

4.Rolled once
before and
once after
planting 1606
5.R011ed once
after plant—
ing 16.5

6.Not Rolled 12.7
7. Rolled once

before and
once after

planting 16.5
Averages:8n1t-
ivations 15.1

Averages: Plow-
ing vs. not
plowing

H

2 Cult.

19.

14.8

14.7

17.7
15.6

22.

16.1

H

U

U

H

"

'Spring Plowed

12.6 Tons

15.6

15.5

16.7

18.5
18.

22.5

16.7

15.5 flbns

I!

Not Gult.

I?

H

Not Plowed
Not Cult. 2 Cult.
15.7 Tons 12.8 Tons
15.5 " 15.4 "
16.5 " 15.8 ”
14.9 " 16.8 "
15.2 " 14.8 "
14.9 " 15.5 "
29.7 " 26.2 ”
17.1 " 16.7 ”
16.4 flbns.

4 Urlt.

2.4 Tons

14.

15.

16.1

1.8.
14.1

19.6

15.5

H

H

H

Averages
15.4 Tons
15.4 "
14.4 "
15.9 "
16.7 "
15.1 ”
22.7 "

 

 

 

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60

The data secured from the 1922 sunflower cultural experiments
may be summarized as follows::

Unplowed soil yielded over a ton per acre more than plowed
soil.

Rolling invariably resulted in better yields. The best
results were secured frcm rolling once before and once after
planting, but rolling once after planting gave nearly as
high a yield. The average yield from the rolled plots
exceeded the average yield from the unrolled plots by
nearly three tons per acre. The benefits from rolling were
considerably more evident on the plowed than on the unplowed
soil. Three rollings before planting gave a lower yield
than one rolling. The only probable explanation of this
result is that variations in the soil conditions caused
the differences in yield.

The uncultivated sunflowers gave slightly the best yield,
but very little more than those cultivated twice. Cultivating
four times produced a depression in yield of nearly two tons
per acre.

It would be presuming too much to venture any recommendations
from the results of this one year of experiment with cultural
‘methods for sunflowers. In a general way, however, it would
seem that soil for sunflowers should not be plowed, except

when absolutely necessary ( e.g., a sod). Rolling with the

heavy roller once after planting should prove profitable,
and possibly more satisfactory returns would be secured by

rolling once before and once after planting.
It might be concluded that cultivating should be practiced
only as a measure to prevent weed growth, and should be

avoided whenever weeds are not seriously threatening the crop.

Satisfactory results were obtained from the use of the
grain drill as a seedngmethod. The seed was sown rather
thickly to avoid a rank, woody growth. The sunflowers
were ensiled shortly after flowering. Sunflowers were
found to feed into the ensilage cutter best when started

heads first.

(SN.
-.

42,

(B) CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN.

‘ muse summer frosts, in both 1922 and 1923. destroyed
the corn crop so that no results from this work can be
presented. The experiment was laid out in every way
identically to the cultural sunflower experiment. The same
cultural treatments were given throughout. Wisconsin #25
seed was used, planted may 30th., in checked rows, 40 inches
apart. The stand secured was excellent.

June 28th., the first cultivation was given. The frost
of July 4th., damaged the corn almost fatally and checked :
its growth for so long a time that weeds took possession
of the field.

However, by July 23rd., the growth was thought to be
sufficient to warrant continuing the experiment, and so the
cultivation treatments were resumed. Ofcnurse, it was
impossible to get the weeds under control at this stage of
their growth.

Early in September the corn received its second severe
frost which gnded all hope of harvesting the crOp for
experimental data. It could be observed in a general way,
at this time, that the corn on the unplowed half of the
field was the better. Host of it had attained a height of
from six to eight feet, whereas that on the plowed half
averaged about six feet or less. no other significant ,
differences in the corn could be observed. The entire crop
had done amazingly well in competition with the frost and
weeds.

The experhment'was repeated, identically, in 1923, on

the acre of land used for sunflowers in 1922. Killing frosts

were so frequent during the summer of 1923, however, that
the corn was destroyed utterly, and the field was taken over

by weeds and grass.

e4

(0) CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS WITH SPRING RYE.
A The cultural work with spring rye was very unsatisfactory,,
due to the extremely low yields secured from this crop,
and hence was carried on in 1922 only.
The division of the field was exactly the same as for
corn and sunflowers, and fertilization and cultural treatments
( with the exception of course, of cultivation) were identical.
The one-acre field was drilled on April 29th., at the
rate of 3 bushels per acre. The meagre crop was harvested
by hand on August 6th., and sent to the College for
threshing.

65'

TABLE II.
Yields per Acre of Spring Rye on Plowed and Unplowed muck
which Had Received Different Rolling Treatments.
Spring Plowed Disked Only

1. Hot rolled .............. 2.6 bu. 6.8 bu.
2. Rolled once ............ .

before planting ........- 4.3 5.4
3. Rolled three times

before planting .......... 4.7 9.3
4. Rolled once before

and once after planting .. 9.8 . 12.3
5. Rolled once

after planting............ 10. 8.2
6. Not rolled ............... 8.7 8.9.
7. Rolled once before

and once after planting .. 11.2 11.
8. Not rolled ............... 5.7 7.6
9. Rolled once before

and once after planting .. 3.5 7.8

and twice during growth

Averages ............ 6.7 8.5

Averages, rolled plots........ 7.3 9.

Averages, not rolled.......... 5.4 7.5

 

LBLE

I.

Yields per Acre of Sunflowers, Grown on Plowed and Unplowed Muck, which had Received

Different Rolling Treatments and Diférent Oultivations.

Plot
4 Cult.

1. Not Rolled 10.6 fibns 8.8 ‘l‘ons

2.Rolled once

before plant-
ing 12.9

5.Rolled 5
times before
planting 15.

4.Rolled once
before and
once after
planting 1606
5.R011ed once
after plant—
ing 16.5

6.Not Rolled 12.7
7. Rolled once

before and
once after

planting 16.5
Averages:8n1t-
ivations 15.1

Averages: Plow-
ing vs. not
plowing

H

2 Cult.

19.

14.8

14.7

17.7
15.6

22.

16.1

H

U

U

H

"

'Spring Plowed

12.6 Tons

15.6

15.5

16.7

18.5
18.

22.5

16.7

15.5 flbns

I!

Not Gult.

I?

H

Not Plowed
Not Cult. 2 Cult.
15.7 Tons 12.8 Tons
15.5 " 15.4 "
16.5 " 15.8 ”
14.9 " 16.8 "
15.2 " 14.8 "
14.9 " 15.5 "
29.7 " 26.2 ”
17.1 " 16.7 ”
16.4 flbns.

4 Urlt.

2.4 Tons

14.

15.

16.1

1.8.
14.1

19.6

15.5

H

H

H

Averages
15.4 Tons
15.4 "
14.4 "
15.9 "
16.7 "
15.1 ”
22.7 "

 

 

 

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66

It is evident that the data from the individual plots is
erratic, and at times contradictory. If any value is to be
gleaned from this experiment, it will be from a comparison
of averages of yields, rather than from a comparison of
yields from individual plots.

The average grain yield from the unplowed area was 28%
in excess of that from the plowed soil.

The average of all of the rolled plots showed a yield of
32% higher than the average of the unrolled plots.

The best results were secured from rolling once before and
once after planting. Rolling during growth (May 30th)

proved detrimental.

(D) CULTURAL EXPERIMENT WITH WINTER RYE.

M On October iet., 1922, a strip of the spring rye stubble
was plowed, and another strip of equal width was disked
thoroughly. Both strips were dragged and given the usual
fertilization. and rolling treatments.

Rosen rye aeed was drilled, at the rate of two bushels
per acre, on October 3rd., By the middle of Octdber a
good stand of rye was present.

One of the crosswise strips, rolled once before and once
after planting, was rolled once more on May 2nd..1923.

Plots were harvested July 30th.. and taken to M.A.C. for

threshing and weighing.

6'?

TABLE III.

Yields per Acre of Winter Rye grown on Fall Plowed and on
Unplowed Huck Land which Had Received Different Rolling

Treatments.

Plot No. Fall Plowed Unplowed
1. Hot Rolled ................... 16.3 bu. 22.5 bu
2. Rolled once before planting .. 17. ' 22.1 '

3. Rolled once before and

once after planting ..........21.4 ' 22.8 ”
4. Rolled once after plantingfi... 11.7 “ 16.5 "
5. Not Rolled’fi................. 10.2 I 16. "
6. Rolled once before planting . 18.5 ” 22.7 ”
7. Not Rolled .................. 18. ' 22.6 v

8. Rolled once before, once after

planting, and once in the

spring .......................23.8 ' 26.5 “

Average .................. 19.1 ' 23.2 ”

Average yield from
rolled plots ................... 20.1 ' 23.5 ”
Average Yield from
unrolled plots .................. 17.2 ' 22.6 "

aEThese Plots were overgrown by Canada thistles, which
undoubtedly caused the depression in yield. They are not

included in the averages.

67

The results from the winter rye experiment furnish, perhaps,
the most significant set of cultural data secured from this
series of studies. It is to be regretted that the trials
were made during the second year and hence, were not repeated.

Unquestionably, the unplowed area furnished the better yields
in all cases, exceeding, on the average, the returns from
the plowed soil by three bushels per acre.

Ho benefit worthy of note was received from rolling the
unplowed strip, except in the case where the rye was rolled
in the spring following its planting. In thh case the yield
was increased by nearly three bushels per acre.

Rolling invariably proved much more beneficial on the
plowed than on the unplowed portion, especially on the
plot which was rolled in the spring.

The conclusion may be tentatively drawn that rye should
be sown on unplowed muck wherever possible, and rolled once

in the early spring.

76)
(E) CULTURAL EXPERIMENT WITH OATS.

Oats were selected as a crop to replace spring rye in the
experiments. The experiment was elaborated to the extent
that a strip of fall plowed soil was added for comparison
with spring plowing and spring disking. This strip was
plowed on October 1st., 1922; the spring plowing and disking
were done May 3rd., 1923. Rolling treatments were the same
as in all of the other cultural experiments.

Worthy cats were the seed used.
This was a very unfortunate choice, as the variety tests
of the same year showed Worthys to be a very inferior variety
for this muck. The variety is doubtless responsible for
the small yields secured from the cultural oats experiment.
The cats were drilled, at the rate of, three bushels per acre,

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Again, the data from the cultural oats, experiment argue
in favor of disking only, rather than plowing. The yields
of grain are appreciably higher where the soil was not
plowed., and the yield of straw is about the same for the
disked and fall plowed plots. Spring plowing appeared
to be very unsatisfactory,both for grain and straw yields.

Bolling produced definite increases in grain yields, but
it is doubtful if the returns secured from the operation
would pay for its expense. It is fair to presume, however,
that in a dry season the percentage increase of yield from
rolling would be considerably higher than it was in 1923.
Rolling once before and once after planting gave the best
results. The rolling benefit was most marked on the
spring plowed plots.

Rolling appears to have had no striking affect on the
yields of straw.

135

(F) CULTURAL EXPERIMENT WITH TIMOTHY.

The cultural work with timothy consisted only of rolling
treatments, and was undertaken on a timothy sodiwhich had
been cut for hay for five years prior to the experiment
project. The experiment was carried on for two seasons:
1922 and 1923.

The area used for this project was staked off adjacent
and perpendicular to a hand ditch, as shown on the chart.
Plate II. The rolling treatments were given longitudinally,
and early in the season ( just as growth was starting),
both years. No outward indications of any differences in
rapidity of growth, or vigor of development, among the plots,
could be noticed.

Plots were cut individually with a mowing machine, and
raked by hand. The hay was allowed to cure in the cook,

until thoroughly dry, before weighing.

*The same area as that used in the fertility experiment with

timothy, discussed later.

aw

TABLE V.

Yields per acre of Cured Timothy Hay from an area of Old
Muck Meadow which had Received Different Rolling Treatments.
Plot Treatment 1922 1923 Averages
1. Not rolled ................ 4660 2900 3780
2. Rolled twice April 26th,

and once May let.......... 3860 ' '
3. Rolled once April 26th,

and once may 2lst.......... 4360

4. Rolled once ............... 4900 3133 4016
5. Rolled twice .............. 4800 3167 3984
6. Not rolled ................ 2400 3033 2717

7. Rolled once .............., - 3433 a

?5'

The higher yields in 1922 may be accounted for by the fact
that that season was much better for hay growing than was
1923. Both seasons, however, supplied more moisture than
is often received and perhaps this fact accounts for the
very slight benefits resulting from rolling.

It must be granted that the increase in yield resulting
from rolling is hardly sufficient in any case to justify
the expense of the operation, as far as this experimental
evidence shows. Rolling once apparently gave yields fully
as high as did two rollings. Rolling during the growth
of the hay seemed to lower'the yield.

No reasonable explanation of these responses to rolling
can be offered. It would be highly desirable to repeat
this experiment until data from seasons of less waterfall

could be reported.

VARIETY TBS TS

VARIETY TESTS.

In accordance with the scheme of all of the experiments
undertaken at the A.F.Sippy Ranch, the variety trials
were laid out on a large scale, and under practical field
conditions. Variety tests with corn were put on in
relatively small plots, due to the simplicity of harvesting
a small patch of corn readily. For the small grains
(barley and oats), however, the one-acre plot idea was
evolved. This was merely the use of one measured acre
for each variety of seed sown, and was conceived as a
means of avoiding the inaccuracy which must inevitably
accompany the harvesting of a small patch of grain. Such
a patch can not be truly representative of field conditions,
because it does not take into account the soil variations
found in a field, and because the factor of error in
harvesting and threshing a small amount of grain by hand
is much greater than that resulting from handling an entire
acre. The length acre plots was four or five times as
long as the width. Thus inaccuracy, resulting from soil
variations, was minimized.

Corn variety tests were tried for three successive
seasons, only to be destroyed each time by summer frosts.

The barley trials of the first season gave such a markedly
greater yield of one variety that it was thought unnecessary
to repeat the acre plots the second year.

Aere-plot tests with cats were carried on for two seasons.

(A) VARIETY TESTS WITH CORN.

V The areas used for corn variety tests were prepared
each season with the greatest care. Soil of uniformity
of surface conditions and of drainage, etc, was selected,
and disked thoroughly at intervals during the early part
of each season. It was dragged and rolled just before
planting. About one-half acre was planted to corn, for
variety trials, each year.

The seed was planted in 42 inch checked rows, and
dr0pped by hand to insure the same number of kernels (3)
in each hill. Five rows of each variety were planted.

The varieties used were as follows:

1. Flint- a yellow, northern grown flint corn.

2. Northwestern Dent- a very early red dent corn.

3. Garrod-

4. Hentha Huck-

5. Wisconsin #12- 'Cold Resistant”, a strain selected from
Wisconsin #12 parent stock.

6. Wisconsin #25- an early yellow dent corn.

7. Golden Glow- a variety recommended by M.A.C. Cr0ps
Department for upland use in this locality.

8. Duncan- a variety recommended by the Farm Crops Department
for ensilage in this locality.

Each year the corn was kept free of weeds by cultivating
and hoeing. Algood stand of all the varieties was secured
each time, but only in the first test (1922) did the corn
recover enough from summer frosts to attain much size.
That season the Wisconsin #25 variety recovered best from

the frost and made snough growth before fall to have some

value as ensilage. The other varieties made only a feeble
attempt at recovery from the frost, and were decidedly

inferior to the Wisconsin #25 plot by corn-cutting time.

37

(H) VARIETY TESTS WITH BARLEY.

The 1923 tests with barley revealed that crop to be
of the most promising of the general crops adapted to this
muck. Previous to these trials, barley had never been
grown on the A.F.Sippy Ranch nor anywhere else in the
neighborhood.

The soil for the barley tests had raised corn the
previous year. It was thoroughly disked, dragged, and
fertilized at the usual rate, early in the season. On
May 6th., one acre of each of the three varieties of seed
was drilled at the rate of two and one-fourth bushels
per acre, seeded with sweet clover.

The varieties used were:

1. Michigan Black Barbless
2. Wisconsin Pedigree
3. Minnesota #

All three varieties devebped excellently and began to
ripen in early August. The straw of the Wisconsin Pedigree
barley was considerably longer than that of the other two
varieties, which were of about the same height. There was
no lodging whatever. anywhere in the field.

At first it appeared that the Wisconsin Pedigree would
ripen earliest, but the other two varieties hardened up
.more rapidly at the last, and were out first.

Plots were harvested individually, with a grain binder,
and the bundles allowed to cure. right on the plots. in
the shock. The bundles from each plot were then hauled to
the threshing machine and thrashed, and the yields, as

measured by the machine recorded.

TABLE OF YIELDS PER ACRE OF BARLEY VARIETIES.
1. Wisconsin Pedigree........38 bu.
2. Michigan Black Barbless...28 '
3. Minnesota # ...........22 '

Nearly twice as much straw was obtained from the Wisconsin
Pedigree as from either of the other barleys.

The grain from the Wisconsin Pedigree plot and the Michigan
Black plot threshed much cleaner than did the Minnesota
barley, and was heavier and harder.

The sweet clover seedings appeared to be best on the
Michigan Black and.Minnesota plots, but by the next season
all three seedings seemed about the same. All of the
seedings were excellent at that time.

Since the season of this experiment was normal in every
way, and since the field conditions were kept very finifonm,
there can be but one interpretation of this test: i.e.
that Wisconsin Pedigree Barley is by far the best of the
three tried,on this muck.

In 1924, the barley trials were repeated, on a small
scale, with the purpose of determining the value of, muck-
grown seed vs. upland grown seed. A severe frost. just
at the time when the grain was going into the milk stage,
ruined the crop, and so only abservations of the-apparent
.development of the various plots can be reported. These,
however, have considerable value.

The lay out of the project was as follows;

1. Wisconsin Pedigree- certified, upland-grown seed
2, u I - need grown on the ranch, on muck

3. Michigan Black Barbless- certified, upland grown seed

I L
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{‘3

4. Michigan Black Barbless- seed grown on the ranch, on muck
5. Minnesota 'Manchuria Barley“

The plots were only about one-tenth acre each in area,
each being the width of the grain drill from which they
were sown.

By the time of the frost, plot # 1, had apparently
attained by far the highest degree of development. with
plot # 3 second, and plot # 5 third. Both of the plots
planted with seed of muck origin were decidedly inferior,
making a poor stand at the outset, and lacking thrift and
vigor of growth. It would seem from this trial that seed

barley for muck should be grown on the upland.

(c) VARIETY TESTS WITH CATS.

- All variety tests with cats were conducted on one-acre
plots. Only two varieties were planted in 1923, due to

the late delivery of some of the seed ordered. In 1924,

six one-acre plots were laid out for the work. For the
experiments of that season, the area chosen was in a field
I hitherto unused for experimental work. The usual seed

bed preparation and fertilization were given for all of the
cats variety tests.

Iowar and Worthy were the only two varieties used in 1923.
The yields were fairly satisfactory, in response to rather
good oat-growing weather, that year.

In 1924, the experimental project was much more extensive.
Two plots of Iowar seed were planted, one of muck-grown
seed, the other of upland grown seed. The other varieties
were: Iowa 103, Minnesota I'GOphe-r", Minnesota ”Victory”,
and Wisconsin #7. This sixnacre project was very satisfactory
at the outset, with the different plots exhibiting, from
the very start, highly indivual behavior in their development.
Very unfortunately, the frosts, which killed the barley
and corn this season, damaged the cats so severely that

it was hardly profitable to harvest the crop.

The cats plots for both seasons were harvested with a
binder and threshed individually by a custom threshing
machine. The Worthy oats of 1923 were lodged rather badly,
whereas the Iowars, with their shorter, stiffer straw,
stood up well. As would be expected, a better seeding was

obtained with the Iowars than with the Worthys.

54

The muck-grown Iowar seed, used in the 1924 trials,
resulted in rather a poor stand on its plot. Germination
and growth were appreciably slower than on the upland-grown
Iowar plot. Iowar again seemed to be the best variety,
although Iowa 103 was a close second. Of course, it is
impossible to predict which variety would have yielded best
had the oats had time to reach maturity.

3:5

TABLE cm‘
YIELDS PER ACRE 0F GRAIN: OATS VARIETY TESTS.

1923 Tests
Iowar ......OOOOOOOO. 45 bu.

worthyOOOOOOOOOOO... 32“

1924 Tests
Iowar, muck-grown 18 bu.
Iowar, upland-grown... 26 '
Iowa # 103............ 22 '
Minnesota "GOpher' ... 20 ”
Minnesota ”Victory” .. 15 '
Wisconsin 5 7 ........ 15 '

 

FERTII. ITY EXPERIMENTS

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‘ Irv-e L~ Sand Sh“: M¢W.. Mgfiurg ‘ N loo
ChQ‘k K300 FIDO K300 meho P300 K300 Check 1N No; TTCCI Ill I) '110“, 6 10.43 P300 K100 P300 kpoo F300 P300 K300 P300 K300 CkQC-K
I ~ I
“ sumo... A
B Corn B
c Pan... * c
D Sugar Beef: . D
E . I s ' “R F 11}? E
w - J ?""5 l“ a 38 I:
P on. ‘ F
G J , Millet and Soybeans Q
, | T .
H I, 1; Clovvx and ‘Tuno‘hx, a
' ' Alma ' ,
J Hubam (”‘11 only) J
K Swee'l' Clover iK
l 1 3 L1 5 6 7 g g to n I la :3 H
R Arremcje’rmrd~ I Er“ lnzer :xPu .nem?
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83}
FERTILITY EXPERIMENTS.

As the chart shows, fertility experiments, with eleven
crops, and fourteen different fertilizer treatments, were
conducted.

The area employed for the fertility experiment was two
acres in extent, and was located along the bank of the
Beaver drain (Plate I ). Its condition at the time the
experiments were put on was as described on page

It was thought best to plow this piece of land the first
season, in order to get the roots out more thoroughly, and
to secure a more level surface. It was plowed as early as
possible (April 18th), and worked down thoroughlywith disk
and drag, until planting time. For the 1923 project, the
soil was merely disked thoroughly, except of course, on those
strips which had been seeded in 1922, to a hay crOp, for
study in 1923. Both seasons the field was rolled twice
with the heavy roller, just before the fertilizers were applied

The fertilizer strips were applied crosswise of the
longitudinal strips of crops. Each fertilizer plot was
thirty feet in width, with an unfertilized alley, three feet
wide, separating it from the next strip. The arrangement
of the fertilizer plots was as follows:

1. Check- no fertilization
2. K 300- Muriate of Potash at the rate of 300# per acre

3. P 100 K 300- ACid Phosphate " ' ' " 100# ' '

and muriate of

Potash ” ' ” ' 300# ' '
4. P 200 K 300- Acid Phosphate n I n u 200# ' "

and.Mnriate of

Potash ” ” " ' 300# ' '

5. P300 K300- Acid Phosphate

and MUriate of

 

Potash
6. Check
7. Manure ' "
8. w w I
9. P300 K200- Acid PhoSphate ” '
and Muriate of
N I
Potash
10. P300 K100-
Acid Phosphate ' '
and Muriate of
Potash ' '
11. P300 - Acid Phosphate ' '
12. P300 K300- Acid Phosphate ' '

and Muriate of Potash.”"
13. N100 P300 K300-

Nitrate of Soda ' “

Acid Phosphate ' ”

and Muriate of Potash ' '

Each of the combinations of fertilizers was thoroughly mixed

in a cement box. The plot which was to receive a treatment

12 loads '
6 w w
300# '
200# '
300# ”
100# '
300# '
300# -
300# “
100# '
300# '
300# '

(3

each at the rate of 300# per acre

was then staked out, and a cord stretched from stake to stake.

The fertilizer mixture was then applied broadcast, by hand,

up to the lines at the edges of the plots.
fertilizer mixtures had been applied, the field was dragged

”lightly with a spike-tooth harrow.

After all of the

The Muriate of Potash used in the mixture was a German

salt which had been reground.

The Acid Phosphate was a Swift fertilizer of 16% phosphoric

(A) FERTILITY EXPERIMENT WITH SUNFLOWERS.
Fertility results for Sunflowers are available only for
1922, because of the killing frosts of 1923. Even for 1922,
only a partial report can be made, because of the damage
done to some of the sunflower plots by rabbits, when the
plants were young.

The sunflowers were drilled May 30th., in 35 inch rows.
A good stand was secured on series 7 to 14, but series 1 to 6
were eaten off by rabbits. These plots were replanted, only
to be eaten off again. The remaining sunflowers were cultivated
twice, and hoed twice, to keep down weeds. They were
harvested Sept. 24th, and weighed green.

The table, which follows, shows no benefit from manure or
nitrate. Best yields were secured on the plots which had

received potash in the mixture.

TMflEI.
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Sunflowers Grown on Muck.

Plot No. Green Sunflowers (entire plants)

Yields per acre.

8. M6 14,400 #
9. P300 K200 26.400
10. P300 K100 29,500
11. P300 21,400
12. P300 K300 25,600
13. w P K 18,500

14. Check 14.550

7!

(E) FERTILITY EXPERIMENT WITH CORN.
I The corn on the fertility plots seemed to survive the
1922 frosts better than did the cultural or variety corn,
possibly because of the proximity of the Beaver drain
and its brush-covered bank. Enough soft corn was formed
to collect some data. There is, of course, no report for
1923.

Wisconsin #25 seed was hand planted, May 30th., in
checked rows. Two cultivations and two hoeings were given.

The plots were cut by hand, September 23rd, and the
fodder shocked. The ears were divided into two grades
according to maturity, and weighed. The stover was weighed
after standing in the shock for a month.

In the table which follows, the bushel yields per acre
are computed on the assumption that 74# ear corn 3 one bushel.

The table of mature corn includes everything that was not

entirely too soft to harden up for feed.

911
TABLE II.

Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Corn Grown on Muck.

Ear Corn: Dry Stover:
Plot Yields per acre % laturity Yields per acre

1. Check 13.6 bu 72% 3100 #
2. K300 25.6 - 60% 1900 f
3. P100 K300 30.4 R 70% 2600 f
4. P200 K300 31.2 ' 76% 2400 f
5. P300 K300 38. ' 70% 2700 #
6. Check 21.1 ~ 60% 2200 #
7. M,12 26.8 - 60%

8. M 6 15. ' 50% 3300 #
9. P300 K200 14.9 n 50% 3200 #
10. P300 K100 22.4 ~ 70% 2800 #
11. P300 15.3 " 46% - 2400 #
12. P300 K300 11.1 n 80% 3400 #
13. N P K 1.8 n 33% 2100 #

14. Check 4.6 v 90% 1900 #

‘7 3

The yields of corn for fertility series 1 to 7, are very
coherent, showing a steady increase for phosphate and a
decided improvement with potash. This phosphate benefit
is a very interesting feature, because of the fact that
this experiment is one of a few in the entire project
which shows any definite yield increase from a phosphate
carrier.

The remainder of the series does not show as significant
results, although there is a decided superiority of all of
the fertility plots (except the one including nitrate)
over the check. The addition of the nitrate carrier
produced a distinct depression in yield of ear corn and in
the percentage of mature ears. This depression for the
nitrate plot appears in many of the fertility experiments.
The only explanation that can be offered is that these
plots may be on a strip of less productive soil.

Little is to be learned from the table of maturity.
which is erratic and without sequence.

The yields of stover follow no definite course, although
it is generally noticeable that the stover yields are high

where the grain yields are low.

(C) FERTILITY EXPERIMENT WITH POTATOES.
A In the 1922 project, two varieties of potatoes were planted:
Petoskeys and Burbanks. The Burbanks failed to yield any
potatoes whatever, and so results are offered only for the
Petoskey, or Rural Russet, variety.
The potatoes were planted in 36 inch checked rows May 30th.
A fine stand was secured, but considerable damage was done
by the frost of July 4th. The potatoes were cultivated
and hoed twice, and were sprayed twice. Every potato was
dug on each of the plots, and the percentage of marketable
potatoes determined on a standard basis.
The table which follows shows a decided benefit from
fertilization, except in the case of fertilizer series
# 13, where complete fertilization, including nitrate of
soda, gave a yield markedly lower than the average of
the check plots. Benefit seems to be derived from the
use of both phosphorus and potassium carriers, although
potash is the more decided in its improvement of yield.
Manure gave good results better with the smaller application.
The percentage of marketable potatoes is higher on the
fertilized plots, especially on those plots including potash.

TABLE III.
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on Yields

of Potatoes Grown on Muck.

Total Yields per % Marketable
Plot Acre of Potatoes
1. Check 105 bu. 52%
2. K 300 150 I 76%
3. P100 K300 135 I 70%
4. P200 K300 150 I 80%
5. P 300 K 300 150 I 93%
6. Check 95 ' 57%
7. n 12 155 I 74%
8. M 6 170 I 85%
9. P300 K200 170 I 70%
10. P300 K100 145 I 79%
11. P300 155 I 60%
12. P300 K300 180 I 77%
13. N P K 95 I 47%

14. Check 135 I 66%

(D) FERTILITY EXPERIMENT WITH SUGAR BEETS.

' No beet drill was available for the planting of sugar
beets so it was drilled with an ordinary grain drill in

28 inch rows, May 30th. On the whole, this method of
seeding gave a fairly good stand, but there were too many
blank spaces in the rows for a detailed experimental study.
Therefore, when the beets were thinned, in early July, some
of these pulled beets were transplanted into the blank
spaces. Many of these replants survived.

Later, the beets were thinned more, and wer hoed, and
weeded byhand ones. There was not time to give them more
than the most ordinary care. Nevertheless the beets
flourished, and made a very satisfactory harvest in Octdber.

Samples of beets from most of the plots were taken to

M.A.C. for analysis of purity and sugar content.

TABLE IV .
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Sugar*Beets Brown on muck.

Yields per tons % Purity % Sugar
Acre

1. Check 8,800 # 86.7 % 15.8%
2. K300 14,800 # 88.9 % 16.3%
3. K300 P100 15,100 # 85.7% 16.1%
4. K300 P200 15,600 # 88.6% 17.2%
5. K300 P300 16,200 #
6. Check 12,100 # 88.6% 16.4%
7. I 12 16,200 ,7
8. n 6 13,800# 90.8% 15.7%
9. P300 K200 16,600 # 85.7% 15.1%
10.P3OO K100 16,800 # 88.0% 16. %
11. P300 16,400 #
12. P300 K300 18,800# 86.7% 14.9%
13. N P K 12,600 7 84. % 15.3%
14. Check 8,300 #

‘75

As in the case of the potato experiment, the response
of sugar beets to fertilization was good. Potash gave a
decided benefit, which was accentuated by the addition of
phosphate in the fertilizer (series 2.3.4,). Manure gave
good results, this time in accordance with the rate of
application. The value of potash is strikingly evidenced
in series # 12, where potash gives an increase of over two
tons above the yield for phosphate alone in series # 11.
The characteristic inferiority of the nitrate plot is
present. I

No conclusions can be drawn from the table of purity,
except that the nitrate plot is inferior and the manure plot
best.

The percentage of sugar is fairly definitely increased
by fertilization, although some of the data contradicts
this statement. The sugar content of the nitrate plot is not

far below the average.

«Es
. a".

(E) FERTILITY EXPERIMENT WITH SPRING RYE.

Yields of spring rye were very poor indeed, and are of
value merely to show the relative responses of the fertility
series.

The seed was drilled April 29th., at the rate of 3 bushels
per acre. On August 6th., the plots were harvested by hand,
sacked, and taken to the College for threshing and weighing.

Low as the grain yields are, they do show an interesting
reaction to the different fertilizing treatments. The
response to potash is definite and invariable. Phosphate
apparently gave no benefit whatever. Nitrate did not
seem to produce a depression as it usually does.

The yields of straw show no particular favorites among
the fertilizers, although they usually do indicate a

better growth where fertilizer was applied.

loo

TABLE V.

Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Spring Rye Grown on Muck.

Grain: Straw:
Yields per Acre Yields per Acre
1. Check 2.3 bu. 575 #
2. K300 5.8 I 750 #
3. K300 P100 5.7 I 775 #
4. K300 P200 5.3 I 700 #
5. K300 P300 4.9 I 825 #
6. Check 3.7 ” ‘ 875 #
7. M 12 2.7 ” 775 #
8. H:6 3.6 I 850 #
9. P300 K200 3.8 I 975 #
10. P300 K100 3.1 I 825 #
11. P300 3.1 I 775 #
12. P300 K300 5.4 I 1025 f
13. N P K 5.1 I 1025 #

14. Check 3,3 I 775 #

/0’

(F) FERTILITY EXPERIMENTS WITH OATS.

' Complete data for two years fertility study of oats

were collected. The chief fault in this project is found

in the variety of oats selected. Worthy oats were used, and
these proved an unadapted variety in the variety tests
conducted later.

An excellent stand was secured both years by drilling
the Worthys at the rate of 3 bushels per acre. The plants
on the fertilized series showed a more vigorous growth
and development in both trials.

Characteristically, for Worthy cats on this muck, an
enormous growth of straw, with poorly filled heads, resulted,
Even the straw lodged, in many cases, tOo early to give
a high yield.

For 1922, a table of the amount of lodging on each plot,
is presented. In 1923, lodging was serious only on series

# 7,8,and 13.

/&2.

TABLE VI. .
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on Yields

of Oats Grown on Muck.

1922 1923

Plot Yields per Acre

Grain Straw % Lodged Grain Straw
1. Check * 3.3 bu. 2000# % 8.4 bu. 1680#
2. K300 16.7 I 3200# o I 23.1 I 1920#
3. K300 P100 14.9 I 3200# -o I 24. I .1880#
4. K300 P200 18. I 2960# 80 I 22.6 I 1960#
5. K300 P300 18.8 I 3120# 90 I 23.4 I 1840#
6. Check 11.5 I 2400# 10 I 12.5 I 1600#
7. M 12 23. I 2800# 40 I 16. I 1760#
8. M 6 25.4 I 2320# 50 I 17.7 I 1760#
9. P300 K300 26.4 I 2960# 80 I 19.2 I 2000#
10. P300 K10é18. I 2960# 50 I 18. 1 I 2240#
11. P300 16.7 I 2480# 10 I 17.4 I 2160#
12. P300 K30§22. I" 3600# 100 I 29.8 I 3200#
13. N P K 9.9 I 3360# 75 I 8.5 I 2600#

14. Check 16.7. 2560# 50 9.6 I 1760#

.3 homes "a3 TIM" “-51.1. 4 L .-

we

The tables indicate that best results are obtained from
the use of potash. There is, however, a benefit from
phosphate over the yields given by the check plots. Manure,
apparently, was beneficial, especially in the first trial.
Application of a commercial nitrogenous fertilizer reduced
the yield of grain.

Lodging was greatest on those plots which gave the best
yields. No stiffening of straw sufficient to hold up the
oats seemed to result from fertilization, but it is fair
to presume that the variety of the oats was largely

responsible for the excessive lodging.

M4

(9) MILLET—SOYBEANS: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT.
The millet-soybean experiment was included because
of its interest as'a test applied to a possible emergency
hay crop for muck. The experiment was an utter failure
both years, however, due to frosts which ruined the crop.
Manchu soybeans were drilled solid from a grain drill,
with Hungarian millet broadcasted ahead from the grass
seed attachment. The stand of millet was excellent
both seasons, and the soybeans made a fair stand.
Some millet survived the frosts in 1922 on series
l,2,3,4, and 5, but there was not enough left to justify

harvesting.

l05‘

(H) CLOVER-TIMOTHY HAY: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT.

The seeding of clover and timothy was made April 29th..
1922, using a mixture of 4# medium red, and 4# timothy
per acre. The seed was broadcasted ahead of the drill.

An ideal stand was secured. Of course, no hay was cut
in 1922, but the plot was clipped of weeds twice during
the season, with a mowing machine with cutter bar tilted
high.

In 1923, the fertilizer treatments of 1922 were
repeated as usual with the fertilizer mixture merely
broadcasted on the various plots in the early spring.
The hay was harvested July 11th., by the method used in
harvesting all of the experimental hay crops, as follows:
The alleys in between the fertilizer series' were cut
out with a sickle. The entire hay strip was then mowed
longitudinally with the mowing machine. Each entire plot
was next raked by hand, and finally allowed to cure for
several days in an individual cook. The cook's were

weighed in a rack, on a set of platform scales.

TABLE VII. 43%
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Clover-Timothy Hay Grown on Muck.

Plot Yields per Acre of Cured Hay.

1. Check 2350#
2. K300 3300#
3. K300 P100 3000#
4. K300 P200 2700#
5. K300 P300 2950#
6. Check 2600#
7. M 12 2750#
8. M 6

9. P300 K200 2950#
10. P300 K100 2800#
11. P300 2000#
12. P300 K300 2550#
13. N P K 2600#
14. Check 2050#

The resuhs of the clover-timothy experiments are
decisively in favor of potash as the fertilizing agent.
An average increase of over 600 pounds per acre was
secured by the use of the fertilizer mixtures including
potash. No benefit was derived from the use of phosphate

or nitrate.

._ ——.. .4» a m;

 

 

 

 

i
!

1. Alfalfa and Clover-timothy plots from 1922 Fertility exper-
iments. Corn, and other plots appear in the right background

 

2. View of corn and sunflower cultural plots immediately after
the second killing frost in the summer of 1922. The corn
is destrqyed, but the sunflowers merely wilted.

3.0ats on the
1923 Fertility
project. Check
plot on the
left, Potash
fertilization
on the right
(Plots # l and
#2).

 

 

(I? ALFALFA: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT. _

The alfalfa, sowed in.l922 for this fertility experiment,
was the first ever tried on muck on the ranch. A fine
seeding was secured by broadcasting 15 pounds per acre
of Grimm seed, inoculated by the bottle culture method.
Growth was rather slow at first, but the vigor of the
plants increased materially during the summer months.
Weeds were clipped twice during the season, but they
managed to encroach considerably on three of the centrally
located fertility series. At the west end of the alfalfa
strip, some June grass which had not been sufficiently
subdued before seeding, crowded the alfalfa rather

..seriously. These series were hence_omitted from the
experimental harvesting in 1923.

Fertilizer applications were repeated in 1923 as usual.
Two cuttings of alfalfa were made, one on, July 11th.,
and the other at the last of August. The alfalfa seemed
to be improving continually, the second cutting was much
better than the first. The plots were harvested by the

usual method.‘

ePage 105'

TABLE VIII.
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Alfalfa Hay Grown on muck.

Plot Yields per Acre of Cured Hay
First Cutting Second Cutting

1.*'

2.I

3. K300 P100 800# 1400#
4. K300 P200 750#‘ 1450.7
5. K300 P300 900# 1450#
6. Check 700# 1350#
7. I 12 750# 1300#
EL *5

9, i.

10.**

11. P300 800# 1200#
12. P300 K300 900# 1350#
13. N P K 850# 1400#
14. Check 550# 1400#

* June Grass

“t Weeds

We”!

1:»
O

.........

.....

[NO

The benefits from fertilization are much more apparent
in the yields from the first cutting than from those in
the second. In fact, the uniformity in the second cuttings
is so pronounced that there may be said to be no
appreciable response to fertilization. This may have
been due to the development of the deep root systems of
the alfahh to the extent that they were feeding well
below the surface..

The chief benefit in the first cuttings was derived
from the presence of potash, although there is an
undoubted yield increase also where phosphate was used.

It may be mentioned here that present observations
(spring 1925) indicate that the alfalfa planted in this
experiment is entering upon its best year. The stand
has gained rather than lost ground, and is far more
thrifty than the newer seedings nearby. No differences
in development, are now apparent which might have resulted

from the original different fertilizer treatments.

II!

(J) ANNUAL SWEET CLOVER: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT.

In order to get immediate information about sweet clover,
the annual white variety (”Hubam") was planted in 1923.
The seed was broadcasted ahead of the drill, at the rate
of l5# per acre, on May 2nd.

The Hubam made an unpromising start, but by the middle
of June it was well under way, with a perfect stand,
well advanced in development over the other seedings.

By August 28th, the Hubam had started blossoming,
and so it was harvested by the entire plot method.' It
was necessary to open the winrows to further curing.
Some difficulty in making the hay was added by a
moderately heavy rain, but the Hubam ultimately put
up in fair shape.

The uniformity of yields is amazing. Apparently, no
reliable increase whatever was returned from the use of

any of the fertilizer combinations.

\Page

1L2

TABLE IX.
Effect of Different Fertilizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Annual Sweet Clover Hay Grown on muck.

Plot Yields per Acre of Cured Hay

1. Check 4000#
2. K300 4000#
3. K300 P100 3900#
4. K300 P200 4200#
5. K300 P300 3800#
6. Check 4200#
7. M 12 4000#
8. M 6 4300#
9. P300 K200 X

10. P300 K100 4400#
11. P300 4000#
12. P300 K300 4300#
13. N P K 4400#
14. Check 3800#

\‘Damaged by rain.

Ila

(K) BIENNIAL SWEET CLOVER: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT.
No report of this experiment can be presented,

due to an error in seeding. The plot was put on

in the usual way, but through some mistake at the

seed department, alfalfa seed had been put up instead

of sweet clover. The result was a seeding of alfalfa

on the sweet clover plot.

M

(L) TIMOTHY MEADOW: FERTILITY EXPERIMENT.

The timothy meadow used for fertilizer experiment was
the same as that described in detail for the cultural
experiment!” Fertilizer applications were made crosswise
of the rolled strips.

In 1922, this experiment was put on really as an
afterthought, and so the arrangement is rather sketchy.
The project that year consisted merely of three series-
two checks, and one fertilized strip. Acid phosphate and
muriate of potash, both at the rate of 150# per acre,
were used as a mixture on this strip.

In 1923, the meadow plots were fertilized according
to the arrangement shown on the chart on Plate III.

The 1922 fertilized strip was left unaltered, as a study
of the residual effect of fertilization. The three
series of 1922 were repeated, with the addition of

a series of potash only and phosphate only.

The fertilizers were applied as a t0p-dressing, each
at the rate of 150# per acre. The hay was made according

to the regular method!”

wPage 88

exPage I05

II5’
TABLE 1K.
Effect of Different Fertflizer Mixtures and Manure on

Yields of Timothy Hay Grown on Muck.

Plot Yields per Acre of Cured Hay
1922 1923
l. K150 4100#
2. Check 3930# 2700#
3. P150 2200#
4. Residual P150 K150 3800#
5. Check 3590# 2500#
6. P150 K150 5630# 4400#

The table shows very satisfactory returns from the
use of fertilizer on the 01d timothy meadow.

In 1922, fertilization increased the yield by nearly
50%, almost a ton more of hay. Moreover, this
fertilization lasted over into the next year to produce
an increase in yield of about 50%, 1200 pounds of hay.

The 1923 results give evidence that potash is the
fertilizing element required. Plots where potashlad
been applied invariably showed a benefit, whereas the
yield of the phosphate plot was even lower than that of
the checks.

Ilé
Views Showing Yields of Timothy Hay from Fertilized and
Unfertilited Plots which had Received Different Rolling
treatments.

 

 

 

 

 

Rolle d
| once
' Not
Rolled
e.
,.
O
- Rolled

Twice

 

H}

PART IV.
PRACT ICAL APPL IC ATI ON

//Q
PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

The experimental results reported in these pages has not
been obtained without much labor and expense, both for the
Soils Department of the State College, and for the A.F.

Sippy Ranch. Has it been of real worth? or must these tables
be discarded, like too much of our experimental data, which
has been collected merely as background for publications
without value?

It must be freely conceded that the material presented
above has a very narrow range of usefulness. But the very
nature of the study- the extreme variability of different
muck soils- has required that the scope of this work be
limited to one specific set of conditions. The practical
application of the results of these trials, then, can be
of benefit only in the management of muck areas which are
similar, in soil conditions, climatic influences, and
cr0pping systems, to the muck tract upon which the work
reported here was conducted.

The value t6 the A. F. Sippy Ranch, of this series of
experiments, can hardlyln measured. In fact, they should form
there, the basis for practical field trials to be continued
year after year. From this aspect, the one great return
from the experimental studies has been the narrowing down
of the problems- the elimination of speculation about the
value of this or that cultural method, fertilizer treatment,
or crop variety. In this way, it has become possible to
concentrate attention upon enterprises which are apt to prove
worth while, and to strive to find ways of improving still

further upon these practices.

[IQ

But the applications of experimental conclusions, on the
Beaver Flats, can be listed in a much more specific manner.
From nearly every cultural method tested, every crop variety
compared, and from the responses of each crop treated with
fertilizers, there have been obtained experimental results
which are continually regulating the management of this
muck soil.

From the cultural experiments, the following field
applications have been made at the ranch.

Plowing is considred a necessary evil, to be replaced by
disking wherever it is possible to work up a seed bed by
this means. Fall plowing is the invariable rule.

Rolligg with the heavy concrete roller is a standard
operation. If possible, the seed bed is rolled once before
and once after planting ( in accordance with most of the
experimental findings). If the season is crowding and only
one rolling can be given, it is given directly after planting.
Winter rye is rolled in the early spring. Despite the
failure of the experimental rolling of meadows to show an
important increase in yield, such rolling is in good favor
at the Ranch especially on new seedings. It is the belief
that, in a dry season, there would be a profitable increase
in yield from rolling meadows in the early spring. Moreover,
there is a certain benefit resulting frmm the smoothing
action of the heavy roller- the pressing down of sticks etc.,
and the crushing:h of expansion cracks in the soil.

Cultivating is regarded as an operation of value merely in
the control of weeds and grass. CrOps arenever cultivated

with the idea that their yields will be increased by the

fl

/KO

The results from the variety tests of crops have been of the
greatest value. The cost of growing adapted varieties
is no greater than the expense of raising inferior yielders,
and the right kinds of seeds yield far better. At present,
Wisconsin Pedigree barley, Iowar oats, or Swedish Select
( original stock for Iowars) and Wisconsin # 25 corn, are
adapted varieties in use on this muck, as a result of
experimental discoveries. Seed for these varieties is grown
on the upland for planting on muck.

The application of the results of the fertilizer trials
is a problem more for the future than for the present.
Although the experimental investigations detected a
beginning potash hunger for most crops growing on relatively
old soil, there is little of the muck on the Ranch which has
been cropped long enough to have, as yet, a great need of
fertilization, for general crOps. An imminent necessity,
however, is the application of a potash carrier upon some
of the older timothy meadows, and it is the preliminary
experimental work which will make the intelligent selection
and use of this fertilizer possible.

A number of benefits which were more or less incidental,
have resulted from the period of experimental study. Alfalfa
sunflowers, and barley were used for the first time as a muck
crop on the ranch in the experimental projects. These three
crops now bid fair to become very important additions to the
crapping system. Beter rates of seeding for oats and rye

have been worked out during the experimental trials.

In short, the Ranch is undoubtedly deriving great benefit

l2!

from a practical application of the findings of these
experimental studies. At present, further variety tests of
barley, oats and corn are in progress. A keen outlook

is always kept for anyunusual responses to different seeding
methods or cultural practices on muck for the experimental
idea has established itself upon the Beaver, and is there

to stay.

LITERATURE CITED.

. Reports of the work of the Minnesota Station, conducted

by Dr. F.J. Alway:

(a) "The Agricultural Value and Reclamation of Minnesota
Peat Soils." Minnesota Bulletin #188. (1920)

(b) "A Report of the Golden Valley Peat Experimental
Fields, 1918 and 1919? Minnesota Bulletin #194 (1920)

Gamble and Slater; Ontario Agricultural College:

"The Character and Treatment of Swamp or Muck Soils".
Ontario Bulletin #178 (1909).

J.W. Ames; Ghio Agricultural Experiment Station:
"Peat and Muck Soils" Ohio Monthly Bulletin, May 1919.
H.R. Smalley; U.S. Agricultural Experiment Station:

"The Management of Muck Land Farms in Northern Indiana
and southern Michigan" U.S. Farmerst Bulletin #761.

Dachnowskt's "Classification of Peat Soils".

 

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