THE GROWING OF CORN. 85 



farming it should be put on broadcast, and thoroughly har- 

 rowed, so as to incorporate and distribute through the sur- 

 face portion of the soil. If fertilizer be used, we prefer 

 broadcasting, and scratching in with a light implement ; in 

 both cases the important consideration being an even distri- 

 bution throughout the upper soil. The rains then distribute 

 the soluble ingredients to just where the roots feed to the 

 most advantage. 



The kind of fertilizer used is of little consequence, pro- 

 vided enough, and not too little or too much, be applied. 

 To get the most advantage from manure for this crop neces- 

 sitates considerable labor. Artificial fertilizers are never 

 known to fail, and are cheaply and quickly applied. Let it 

 be remembered, however, that manure is a complete fertil- 

 izer ; and an artificial fertilizer intended to replace manure 

 must also be complete. In New-England farming dej)end- 

 ence on a phosphatic manure must never be urged : it is 

 only a compound manure that can replace dung. 



We all know the results of applying insufficient plant- 

 food, in diminisliing the crop : it is not so well known that 

 excess of fertility tends to deteriorate the quality of the 

 crop. It is also unprofitable to apply more manure than the 

 crop needs in order to give its maximum yield. The quan- 

 tity of manure to be used is to be governed, in part, by the 

 condition of the soil as respects agricultural barrenness of a 

 greater or less degree, and most particularly, in practice, by 

 the character of the seed used. A greater application of 

 fertilizer is profitable where seed is used capable of bearing 

 eighty bushels of crop, than where another seed is used whose 

 normal yield is but forty bushels of crop per acre. It is also 

 to be governed by conditions of culture. Where thorough 

 culture is carried out, there more manure can be profitably 

 applied than where insufficient cultivation of the field takes 

 place. 



It seems probable, that, in almost every case, an applica- 

 tion of a superphosphate about the roots of the plant is of 

 advantage to the crop, and this irrespective of the quantity 

 of manure used broadcast ; the phosphoric acid seeming to 

 act physiologically on the plant to increase the formation of 

 root-fibres. 



In my own practice I find five cords of dung per acre 



