The Bulletin. 



which makes leaf aucl stem. If we are after seed, we should use plio.si)horic 

 acid, the seed-producing element. . If we want the tubers, or need the woody 

 tibor in a crop, we should use an abundance of potash to bring about this 

 result. All crops need all the elements in some proportion, but the farmer 

 (•an regulate the proportion. 



The imrpose of this pajwr is primarily to impress upon my hearers the fact 

 that we can never control the conditions I have mentioned al)Ove as long as 

 we depend upon the standard ready-mixed fertilizer, such as 8-2-2 and 8-3-3. 

 rhe only way to use fertilizers, anyway, is to buy the raw materials of the 

 best grade and mix them at lio,me. We can then suit a formula to the varying 

 demands of the crops we are growing. We can furthermore get the i)lant 

 food at a much lower price per pound ; we know what we are getting when we 

 mix it at home, and we do away with the hauling, freighting, and distributing 

 of tliat vast amount of sand, or make-weight, that is put into every ton of 

 low-grade manipulated fertilizer. Furthermore, we can mix the materials at 

 home for about one-fifth of what the other fellow charges for the same job. 



One of the great needs of our State to-day is the elimination of low-grade 

 manipulated fertilizers and more home mixing. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CORN CROP. 



By B. S. Millsaps. 



Cultivation is an act of tillage, and necessarily begins with the first furrow 

 run in the field ; yet, as this subject is divided, and another has discussed 

 the preparation of the seedbed, I shall confine this paper to the methods 

 adopted by the most successful farmers in the cultivation of the corn crop. 



The importance of the corn crop demands that we use the best methods in 

 its cultivation, so that we can get out of it the largest returns. Indeed, the 

 farmer should use everj' means in his power to increase his yield of corn. 

 The corn crop is of so much importance to the North Carolina farmer that it 

 should demand his highest talent and energy. So long as the State imports 

 corn in such large quantities there is need of increasing this important crop. 

 It furnishes both bread and meat, and if a surplus is produced it is readily 

 convertible into cash to supply the luxuries of life as well as the necessities. 



The soil being prepared and the crop planted, the next question is how to 

 cultivate the crop so as to enable the land to produce the largest and most 

 profitable crop. While the lack of preparation of the land has had a great 

 deal to do with the short yields of corn in our State, no doubt the methods of 

 cultivation have had much to do with these yields. So long as we produce 

 yields averaging around fourteen bushels we know something is wrong, either 

 in the method of preparation or cultivation. 



Cultivation is tillage, and tillage is said to be manure. Cultivation is prac- 

 ticed for two primary reasons. The first is for the purpose of conserving the 

 soil moisture, and the second is to make plant food available. 



Proper tillage for the conservation of moisture consists in maintaining a 

 dust mulch on the surface of the soil to prevent the too rapid evaporation of 

 water from the soil. After every rain the surface of the soil forms a crust 

 which encourages rapid evaporation by reason of the fact that this crust helps 

 to draw the soil moisture from below. If this crust be bi'oken by cultivating 

 the surface, the evaporation will be greatly arrested, and the moisture in the 

 soil will remain for the use of the plants. 



We also cultivate to make plant food available. The more frequent the 

 cultivation the more plant food is the plant enabled to get from the soil. We 

 are said to cultivate the land to kill weeds and grass. Cultivation to destroy 

 weeds is really not the real reason, and is merely incidental. If a crop is 



December — 7 



