592 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



One of the most important ways of getting the soil in good condition, 

 for the corn crop is by means of the leguminous or "cover crops;" e. g., 

 cowpeas, clover, and alfalfa. The soja bean and cowpeas crops have been 

 found to be especially beneficial to the soil, valuable as feeds, and success- 

 fully grown under widely differing conditions. In Illinois and Missouri 

 these crops grown in the fields for a single year have been found to in- 

 crease the jdeld of corn from five to eighteen bushels per acre. The hay 

 has been found to be at least as valuable as ordinary red clover hay and 

 the crop is harvested in much the same way. As the land becomes more 

 and more exhausted, it becomes more diflicult and expensive to secure a 

 stand of ordinary red clover. Where alfalfa can be gi-own, this crop is 

 very valuable for preparing the soil for corn. In most seasons, cowpeas 

 and soy beans, drilled between the rows of corn just after the last cultiva- 

 tion, -give good results. These crops will produce from one to two and 

 one-half tons of hay per acre and will increase the fertility of the soil. 

 Where the soil is a rich prairie loam the soy bean is more successful than 

 the cowpea. On such rich soils the cowpea runs to vines and does not 

 mature" a seed crop. It is in such soils that the soja bean gives the best 

 results. The rich soils stimulate the production of plant and seed, and 

 the crop becomes increasingly valuable. The soja bean is easily har- 

 vested, but great oare must be taken to secure good seed. 



If the clover crops are grown and rotated with corn a^d the crops 

 taken from the fields, the soil will eventually become exhatisted. These 

 leguminous crops add to the supply of nitrogen in the soil, but they do 

 not add the other elements of fertility, particularly potash and phos- 

 phorous. With continuous cropping of any kind the fertility is bound 

 to run out eventually. The only way by which corn growers can continue 

 to grow profitable crops is by feeding the corn and hay crops to live 

 stock and returning the manure to the soil. There is no fertilizer as 

 valuable as barnyard manure, and it is onlj^ by the careful conservation 

 of the manure from the corn and other crops, and its judicious applica- 

 tion to the fields, that the soils will continue to pi-oduee profitable corn 

 crops. 



IMPROVED SEED CORN. 



The second important feature of the growing of a corn crop is seed 

 corn. It has been found that corn can be bred like cattle. From the 

 fact that we secure a complete crop in a single season, the results from 

 corn breeding are secured more quickly than from animal breeding. It 

 costs no more to grow a large crop upon the field than a small crop. The 

 expense of cultivation, interest on investment, and labor are the same in 

 both cases. If by breeding the yield can be increased five bushels per 

 acre, this increase is pure profit to the grower. Thei-efore any advantage 

 from breeding is of very great importance to the farmer. 



