THE CULTURE OF CORN. 407 



I.awes's communication, in the " Rural New-Yorker " of 

 Jul}^ 2, that he and I do not differ in the least as regards 

 this bare fact ; for he says, " The only manner in which 

 such a result — viz., that a quarter of a pound of nitrogen in 

 manure will produce a pound of it in corn — might possibly 

 be arrived at would be by the continuous growth of corn 

 by means (1) of a mineral manure alone, and (2) by the 

 same manure combined with salts of ammonia, if this were 

 done with very great care and for a sufliciently long period." 

 Further he says, " More nitrogen would be recovered by the 

 corn than by the wheat." 



Now, if I have said any more than what this purports to 

 mean, and Dr. Lawes will allow me, I will withdraw all 

 beyond that, and rest my case upon it. That includes 

 every point I wish to make ; for the whole sum of my 

 argument is, that the Eastern farmer, by the perfectly right 

 employment of a quarter of a pound of nitrogen, can recover 

 one pound of it in liis corn-crop, if he will only give 

 enough potash and phosphoric acid. In discussing the ques- 

 tion of the culture of corn in my paper, I considered it solely 

 in its practical bearings, and did not give much attention 

 to its relative character as compared with clover. But if 

 the above admission of Dr. Lawes is correctly quoted, it 

 certainly seems that it must also be admitted that " corn 

 should not be placed on the list of grain-crops which re- 

 quire to be supplied with a surplus of nitrogen, but rather 

 classed with clover and the leguminous crops, which yield 

 larger quantities of nitrogen in their product, but require 

 an inconsiderable supply." And why not? Consider the 

 season of growth and of the maturity of corn. It occupies 

 a period of the year marked by numerous thunder-showers 

 and a torrid temperature, when the production of nitric 

 acid is known to be greatly in excess of that at an}'- other 

 season, and probably, if not cfertainly, greater than the 

 product of the whole of the rest of the year ; while wheat is 

 mature and ready for harvest before the hot weather fairly 

 begins. Corn, in fact, is a tropical plant, and cannot be 

 justly compared with wheat, oats, and barley, which thrive 

 in the cooler parts of the temperate zone, and is, there- 

 fore, as Dr. Lawes admits, " less dependent upon an artifi- 

 cial supply of nitrogen than wheat, oats, or barley." Now, 



