Norwich bulletin., 1922-03-24
WHAT A TEST FIELD HAS DONE IN SIX YEARS.

(Written Specially For The Bulletin) That Independent Fertility Field'' of 1 Prof. Esten's up at Storrs. has now made ID and balanced it's accounts for It's sixth consecutive year. Probably 3 good many of you have seen the report cd results. But there are others who have not. and some of the results dem onstrated are So striking that even a repetition of them might be pardoned. Last season. as has been said, was the sixth cropping of this formerly hope i less and worn-out pasture, in the midst 1 of an abandoned and brush-infes5ed farm. ] didn't see it. six years ago, but l If it was anything like the land which now surrounds it, no ordinary farmer would have fenced it, if 1t had been given him for nothing. Since then it has i been treated 10 small dressings Of ] ground limestone-raw. not burned--an nd /. of ground phosphate, also raw, i. e. not l acidifed. For the rest the professor 1 steered a few billions or trillions of bac- 1 teria into it's soil and let them have their l own way.
 Those bacteria. following ont their natural bent. promptly proceeded to sift 1 out 8 number Of tons Of nitrogen from l the air, which is four -ffths nitrogen, 1 anyway, and make them over into ni- | tTates such as the plant rootIets can feed 1 on. At the same time. by chemical ac- l ton. they liberated from the soil all the I potash any crop could ask for Note in ] this connection, that nitrogen (am- nonia) and potash are the two most ex- l peusiye elements of fertility in any ma nure or fertilizer And these are the very two which the hscterja' supply. in unlimited quantity and of ideal purity, l at absolutely no money cost to the far mer who employs them. Thev literally ] work fer nothing and board themselves ! Moreover. these same industrious and | tireless little organisms produce wh9c 1 the chemists call carbon dioxide in the l soil. And a-bon dioXide makes raw i ground limestone, which is the very 1 c!lea pest fertilizer you can buy. easily | soIuaole and therefore effectively avail l able for the use of tie growing plants. 1 That leaves only DEosph3tes lacking. l And they. experiment has pr'veM. over and over again. are not only cheaper but 1 more efficient wh4n s7pl5ad raw than af- l ter factory actdifc93ion.. There is dou- l ble the amount of r.hosohorgs Tn TOT
 of raw phosphate rock that there is in 2 ton or acid phosphate. s7-a2lied. And 1 tue same bacteria will acidify it for T0u | right in your own soil. without 2s!linc any further help, or any oil of YitrioI
 either.
 This is surely ''lettinG George do if ! with vengeance. But as Banteria | George was apparently made on nurpos'
 Q d. it. and as h. seems to like doing
 jt and as he doesn't ask 2 cent Of wage'
 1r bonus for doing if. really there eeen1'
 ID controlling reason manifest why h
 srouldn't be allowed to do tiff he doe
 Y satisfactorily.
 That is exactly the question which t [ Ao- Inc T
 Docs Bacteria George do his unpai ! work satisfactorily?
 1 Also. that is the very question whic'
 "Inderendert Fertility Field was asS
 ed to answer. and has answered, now fo the sixth time.
 Last seasOn-aIways remember thn
 th.s was the sixth in consecutive orde
 --tast season this field grew ten tons C
 cqulifower to the acre. twenty-five ton of cabbage to the acre. 462 bushels (
 onfons-SouthDort White GlCbe-to u
 acre beside good yields of clover and a ? saIfa and a patch of the best poD-corn n eyer saw. Perhans other things of wh'c a am not now informed. Professor E: = ten writes:
 "The best stunt pulled off was . plats to which nothing but raw lime an Il raw phosphate rock were added Not s. pound of any organic matter was ev' 1T added to tl,an1." In the five years r
 noroed on this narticnlzr plat las pr l. Guced crops of red kidney beans and a s. .alfa hay selling for $370. In the who y five years it was plowed twice and ha T. Ivwed three times. In the whole fl le years there was put on it s6 worth raw rock phosphate and SIS worth 'e raw ground limestone. Nothing els a Bacteria George did all the rest. sr think, if you're not too intern l- greedy youil admit that a return IS $370 for an investment of s24 and tv
 plowings and three harrowings isn't ba
 Indeed. you'll probably agree that il
 ''purty fair.' The longer you think $ it the nearer you'l1 come to real enth
 siasm. 1 can imagine some one, . whom it's full significance at last dawn
 letting loose a declaration that it's mo
 than all these-that it's "almigh
 good"'
 The tetaI outlay for all fertility ei
 ments added to this field during the s
 years has been s1g2.63. The crops takt
 off it have been worth $1,79s.16. Ju
 let these figures soak in g few minute
 Brother Farmer.