340 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



EFFECT OF CROPPING SYSTEM AND MANURE ON THE YIELD OF CORN. 



MISSOURI EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The importance of a good cropping system cannot be too 

 strongly emphasized. It is the first step to- be taken in the 

 maintenance of the fertility of our soil. Under continued 

 cropping, especially of a cultivated crop like corn, the supply of 

 available plant food present in virgin soils is largely depleted and 

 conditions are brought about that are unfavorable for the making 

 available or soluble of the plant food locked up, so to speak, in 

 the mineral grains of the soil. This condition is brought about 

 largely through the depletion of the content of organic matter in 

 the soil which is broken down rapidly under continued cultiva- 

 tion, as organic matter decays in soils carbonic and humic acids 

 are formed which increase the solvent action of the soil water 

 upon the mineral grains. Fresh decaying organic matter is also 



Wheat trophy", donated by .lohn F. Meyers & Sons Milling Co., Springfleld, Mo. Awarded 

 at the annual Missouri State Corn Show, 1914. Won by W. C. Young, Carthage, Mo. 



