Circular No. 245
May, 1939
Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Lafayette, Indiana
HERBERT DAVIS FORESTRY FARM SOILS AND CROPS EXPERIMENTS
Conducted by Department of Agronomy A. T. Wiancko, Chief G. P. Walker, Associate in Soils S. R. Miles, Assistant in Agronomy I. A. Pickard, Farm Superintendent
REPORT OF PROGRESS, 1923-1938
How to Treat This Kind of Land
This kind of land commonly known as “black and clay,” consisting of Crosby silty clay loam on the higher spots and Brookston and Clyde silty clay loams in the depressions, should be uniformly tile drained with tile lines about three rods apart and 30 inches deep.
The cropping system should include mixed clover and alfalfa, alfalfa and grass, or other legume every three or four years.
As much as possible of the produce should be fed on the farm and the manure applied to the land.
Wheat should receive 200 to 300 pounds per acre of a good complete fertilizer, such as 2-12-6, regardless of whether manure is applied elsewhere in the rotation.
Corn should receive 100 pounds of superphosphate or 0-14-6 per acre in the row.
The Herbert Davis Forestry Farm, consisting of 385 acres, was received from the estate of Mrs. Martha F. Davis in December, 1921, and is used by the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station for the study of various agricultural problems of east central Indiana.
The General Fertility Test
The general soil fertility test, located on the light-colored soil known as Crosby silty clay loam, occupies three series of 13 one-twentieth acre plots bearing a 3-year rotation of com, wheat, and mixed hay. The object of the experiment is to determine the effects of lime, manure, and commercial fertilizers, and combinations of these upon the fertility of this kind of soil. The results are shown in Table I.