The Bulletin. 17 



decaying vegetable matter, will not carry sufficient moisture to pro- 

 duce a large crop of corn. Corn can not be grown cheaply and profit- 

 ably by depending alone on large quantities of commercial fertilizers. 



The essential conditions to a large and profitable corn crop are: a 

 deep seed bed, not less than eight inches deep, and deeper would be 

 better, well filled with quick decaying vegetable matter, preferably 

 cowpeas, crimson clover, or some other legume; good seed of a 

 variety suited to the soil and climate ; a few hundred pounds of high 

 grade acid phosphate and some potash; followed with good cultiva- 

 tion. The harrow or weeder should be started a few days after 

 planting, going with the rows or across as the judgment of the farmer 

 may dictate, and should be kept up at frequent intervals until corn 

 is large enough to cultivate. Whon corn is eight or ten inches high, a 

 deep cultivation may be given, four or five inches deep. Subsequent 

 cultivations should be frequent and shallow, one and one-half to two 

 inches deep, and the crust should be broken as quickly as possible 

 after every shower to conserve moisture and to keep the soluble 

 plant food confined to the sub-surface soil. If a crust is kept from 

 forming after each rain, evaporation will be checked and the capillary 

 water carrying soluble plant food will move towards the roots of the 

 plants, because the demands of the plant for water and plant 

 food causes the pull to be stronger towards the plant than to 

 the dust-covered surface, and if the crust is not allowed to form the 

 daily demands of the plant for water and plant food are satisfied; 

 but if a crust is allowed to form, the pull on the water is toward? 

 the surface, the soluble plant food goes with it and is left at the 

 surface, while the water goes off into the air, and if crust is allowed 

 to remain unbroken very long much plant food will be brought to the 

 surface, considerable water will be lost, and when the crust is broken 

 the plant food is in the dry mulch where the roots of the plant can not 

 reach it and the growth is checked imtil a shower comes and carries 

 it down again. But if a heavy rain should fall before the hard 

 crust is broken and runs off over the surface, much of the plant food 

 would get in solution with the water and be carried away. So it is 

 highly important to break the crust as quickly as possible after a 

 rain, or better still, cultivate quickly to prevent its forming. 



If a proper seed bed has been prepared, rows run five feet apart 

 and a good variety of prolific corn is planted two feet apart in the 

 drill, and three or four hundred pounds of fertilizer analyzing ten 

 per cent phosphoric acid and three per cent potash, fifty bushels of 

 corn to the acre may reasonably be expected. When stable manure is 

 ay>plied, it can be applied in the fall to the cover crop and when ap- 

 plied in this way a better corn crop is assured than if the application 

 were made at, or a short time before, planting time. When applied 



in the spring it is better to apply after plowing and mix in the sur- 

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