84 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



corn more cheaply than it could be grown otherwise ; and 

 in fact, if w-e had to supply all the nitrogen, it would cost 

 more to grow it than it would come to when grown. 



Corn is really a very easy and inexpensive crop to grow, 

 particularly as regards its demands for this most expensive 

 ingredient, — nitrogen. Suppose we compare one hundred 

 bushels of corn (shelled) with thirty-five bushels of wheat : 

 we will have — 



Nitrogen. 



Phosphoric 

 Acid. 



Potash. 



One hundred bushels of corn contain, 

 Thirty-five bushels of wheat contain, 



Pounds. 



89.30 

 43.75 



Pounds. 



30.60 

 16.63 



Pounds. 



18.60 

 11.20 



But recent investigations and past experience have shown, 

 that, while wheat requires from one-half to full quantity of 

 all the nitrogen to be supplied in a fertilizer, depending upon 

 condition of the soil, corn, on the contrary, requires, even on 

 comparatively poor soils, only about one-fourth of the nitro- 

 gen to be supplied as compared to what the crop contains. 

 This changes the demands in a manure, for these respective 

 crops, as follows : — 



Nitrogen. 



Phosphoric 

 Acid. 



Potash. 



One hundred bushels of corn require, 

 Thirty-five bushels of wheat require, 



Pounds. 



22.32 

 21.87 



Pounds. 



30.60 

 16.62 



Pounds. 



18.60 

 11.20 



So that where one may expect to grow, by the help of 

 nitrogen, thirty-five bushels of wheat per acre, one might as 

 reasonably expect to grow one hundred bushels of corn. 

 Wheat cannot help itself to nitrogen, and must have it, as it 

 were, put into its mouth (the roots are its mouth, in fact). 

 Corn can pick up its nitrogen without help, gathering it 

 probably from the accumulations in the soil, or digesting it 

 from food that the less hearty wheat could not touch. This 

 important fact was first made known by Charles V. Mapes, 



