EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN. 25 



between the amount of crop produced and the quantity of 

 the elements applied, which led to the thought that, perhaps, 

 with a certain quantity of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 

 acid given to the plant, in the form of absolute food, a plant 

 might be produced which should contain as much nitrogen, 

 potash and phosphoric acid as we gave artificially to the plant 

 we cultivated. The results of open field-culture in 1873-74, 

 which we reported at the last country meeting of your Board, 

 seemed to sustain that belief. 



Now I go on with the experiments of this year. The crops 

 experimented with this year have been corn, oats, hay, beans, 

 and the general garden vegetables. 



And, first, if you please, I will take the experiments with 

 corn. I hope I have so stated the principle that it is clearly 

 understood. Two plots of land were taken this year, so far 

 as we could determine, exactly alike in their qLialit3\ It was 

 proposed to make, over and above the natural product of the 

 land, fifty bushels of corn to the acre. Elements containing 

 as much nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid as would be 

 contained in fifty bushels of Indian corn, and the natural pro- 

 duction of stalks for fifty bushels of Indian corn, were 

 therefore applied to the land. The result of that experiment 

 was this : the land without the manure yielded twenty-five 

 bushels of corn, in round numbers ; the land with the manure 

 yielded seventy-four bushels. That is, the crop was one 

 bushel less than the statement, being forty-nine bushels, 

 n stead of fifty bushels. 



For potatoes, two plots were taken. These two plots were 

 the plots which were planted with potatoes last year ; the 

 same plot without manure, the same plot Avith manure, as in 

 1874. The statement was, the materials should be applied to 

 make one hundred bushels to the acre more than the natural 

 production of the land. 



Now, do not be surprised at this result. I see Dr. Nichols 

 here, and some other scientific gentlemen, and perhaps they 

 can explain it. The land without the manure made one hun- 

 dred and twenty-eight bushels of potatoes to the acre ; the 

 land with the manure made two hundred and seventy-nine 

 bushels to the acre, or fifty-one bushels more than the state- 

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