Corn Growers' Association. 357 



THE USE OF FERTILIZERS. 



The use of 50 to 70 pounds of a complete fertilizer, such as 

 ammoniated bone and potash, put in the hill with a fertilizer 

 planter, will usually bring a good net return on this land, except 

 on a dry season, when the corn may sometimes fire from its use. 

 It will be better in the end, however, to build up the land by feed- 

 ing and rotation of crops for the effect on the corn crop. The use 

 of fertilizer broadcast, using 100 pounds of steamed bone meal and 

 50 pounds of muriate of potash per acre, will usually pay on corn, 

 if properly put in. It should either be plowed under, or it should 

 be drilled in with a fertilizer grain drill before the corn is planted. 

 The same application will also pay on wheat, if properly put in. 

 It will pay much better, however, if the wheat land has been built 

 up in nitrogen and humus by growing cowpeas, and if it has pre- 

 viously been sweetened with lime. 



THE SAVING OF MANURE. 



Manure must be scrupulously saved and returned to the land, 

 if it is to be kept permanently productive. A manure spreader 

 will pay on every farm of over 100 acres, where cattle are lot or 

 stable fed. A good permanent practice: If 50 to 75 pounds of 

 raw rock phosphate be applied to every ton of manure before ap- 

 plying to the land, and then if this manure is put on at the rate 

 of 6 tons per acre once in four years, before corn, this will be 

 found one of the very best practices possible. The phosphate will 

 build lip the soil in phosphorous, in which it is so deficient, the 

 return of the manure will help to maintain the nitrogen and potas- 

 sium supplies. Now, if a rotation is followed, which shall include 

 the frequent use of cowpeas or clover, all of which are fed back on 

 the land, and, further, if the land be sweetened by lime, the farmer 

 is in position to secure, the largest return from his land at the least 

 cost. 



THE EFFECT OF TILE DRAINAGE ON THIS LAND. 



An experiment in tile drainage was put out on this land in the 

 fall of 1906, four acres being drained and an adjoining four acres 

 being undrained. The idea was to see whether or not the land 

 would drain profitably. The general opinion among farmers is that 

 it is too tight below. The yield of corn from the drained land this 

 past season (1907) exceeded that on the undrained 8.4 bushels pter 



