The Bulletin. 15 



authority no one will question, says: "In nearly all sections of the 

 country a farmer can be found here and there — sometimes one in ten, 

 and sometimes only one in a hundred — who feeds all the crops that he 

 raises and also all that he can buy at reasonably low prices from his 

 neighbors, who supplements all this with more or less purchased bran, 

 shorts, oil meal, cotton-seed meal, etc., and who is thus able to produce 

 sufficient manure of good quality to maintain or even to increase the 

 fertility of his own farm at the expense of many other farms; but no 

 extended State or Nation ever has or ever can maintain sufficient live 

 stock, even in country and city combined, to furnish manure with which 

 to maintain the productive power of all the farm lands." 



Where, then, shall we get this vegetable matter in cheap form on 

 which to build up our corn lands? It is evident that our source must 

 be adequate to supply not a few favored farmers, but every tiller of 

 soil in the State. The only source of humus that can be drawn on so 

 extensively is green manures and crop residues, supplemented, it may 

 be, with stable manure. lied clover, crimson clover, burr clover, hairy 

 vetch, soy beans, rye, oats, old corn and cotton stalks — anything that 

 will rot in the ground is good and can be used by every farmer in the 

 State as a source of organic matter in the growing of the corn crop. 



Once the foundation for economical fertilization is laid, the addi- 

 tional fertilization for the corn crop is likely to be found quite simple. 

 A large percentage of fertilizers used at present may be either discarded 

 altogether or their use will be found vastly more remunerative. In 

 other words, the present yields can be greatly increased with less ferti- 

 lizer than is used at present, and any increased amount will be used 

 only in case the use shows greatly increased production, which is likely 

 to be the case when the soil contains large amounts of humus. 



In the piedmont and mountain sections phosphate is likely to be the 

 leading element in the mixture, while in the sandy gray soils of the 

 coastal plains potash is apt to be found of leading importance. But 

 the relative amounts, the proper combinations, the methods of applica- 

 tion, etc., must be worked out for each leading soil type of the State, 

 and this is now being done by the Agronomy Division of this Depart- 

 ment. 



PLANTING. 



DATE OF PLANTING. 



The best time for planting corn will vary with the locality. In gen- 

 eral, it is better to defer planting in favor of thorough preparation of 

 the seed bed than to rush the seed into the ground while it is yet cold 

 and .damp from the winter freezes. A good warm seed bed is very essen- 

 tial to the prompt germination and rapid early growth of the corn 

 plant, and this condition cannot be obtained when the crop is planted 

 too early. Again, early planted corn is generally more subject to the 

 depredations of cut-worms and other insect pests, especially when planted 

 on sod land, than when planted later. 



