44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



law. You Ccin put a plant upon an extremely fertile field, — 

 a field too fertile for it, — and the result is that the powers of 

 the plant are expended in the growth of leaf, not in the devel- 

 opment of fruit. You all know that. Now, if you can 

 induce a check to that plant, without injuring the vitality 

 of the plant, you have changed the forces Avhich are being 

 expended in too luxuriant growth of leaf, into forces of fruit- 

 fulness. Therefore, by this check which you get in root- 

 pruning without destroying the vitality of the plant, you are 

 changing the forces of the plant itself to the production of 

 fruit instead of the production of leaf. The result is, that 

 root-pruning will tend to increase the number of ears to 

 the stalk of the corn ; and, in fact, we all know in practice, 

 that the better farmers cultivate their corn the most, and those 

 farmers who cultivate their corn the most usually get better 

 results, — that the results are larger in proportion to the 

 cultivation. I don't know the largest number of bushels of 

 corn that have been produced to the acre, but we have a 

 record of one field in Ohio which is reported to have given 

 two hundred and sixty-three bushels of shelled corn per acre, 

 and another field in South Carolina is reported to have yielded 

 two hundred bushels of shelled corn to the acre. Now, if by 

 means of a preparatory study of the fertilizers to be used, the 

 proper distance of planting, and the proper culture, we can 

 give the corn-plant an increased advantage over the soil as it 

 exists, we have increased our crop, and increased it very 

 largely indeed. 



Another thing. By checking the luxuriance of the leaf, 

 you can plant your corn nearer together, and can get better 

 results, because vou get more stalks and more ears on the 



7 V CD 



same area of land ; at the same time you increase the ten- 

 dency of the plant to bear more ears to the stalk. This idea, 

 which I call a new theory in agriculture, because it thus far 

 appears to have been overlooked, has been developed, I think, 

 through the study of the corn-plant growing this year ; and 

 if chemical fertilizers are to be used with advantage, this 

 theory is a very important one to be considered ; for it enables 

 the farmer to take advantage of the capital which he applies, 

 in the form of fertilizers to his land, and to get from it its 

 most advantageous results before it has time to be wasted 



