333 
by the rain water, yet it loses a large quantity by the drainage water, 
which is, of course, richer in nitrogen than the rain. In 1886 and 
1887 Berthelot determined by measurement that the nitrogen carried 
from the soil by drainage water is nearly ten times that brought to 
the soil by rain water. It is therefore economical to return this 
drainage water to the field, as far as possible, and thus return 
with it the nitrogen which has at great expense been given, in the 
shape of fertilizers, to the field by the farmer. (Agr. Sci., Vol. ITI, 
p- 39.) 
MISSOURI. 
Dr. P. Schweitzer, of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, publishes in Bulletin No. LX an elaborate study of the chemical 
changes that go on in the various parts of the maize plant at differ- 
ent stages of growth. The plant takes up nearly all the ash ingre- 
dients during the first stages of growth. The more ash constituents 
a plant takes up over and above its needs the quicker is its develop- 
ment finished and the smaller is the crop. The young plant takes up 
nitrogen with extraordinary avidity, and contains a considerable 
quantity of it. The crop of corn from an acre of land removes there- 
from 219 pounds of ash and 135 pounds of nitrogen. The ears in 
this crop alone contain 52 pounds of ash and 86 pounds of nitrogen. 
(Agr. Sci., Vol. IV, p. 84.) 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
The relation between meteorological conditions and the develop- 
ment of corn is elaborately presented by Messrs. Frear and Caldwell 
in the annual report for 1888 of the Pennsylvania State College 
Agricultural Experiment Station, at Harrisburg, Pa. By testing 
samples of corn at various stages of its growth we obtain not only 
some idea of the nature of the changes going on in the plant under the 
influence of the climate and soil, but the records of past seasons on a 
given variety at a given locality should give us the means of approxi- 
mately estimating what will be the crop of the present year. For 
instance, the loss or gain of dry matter is shown in the following 
table for one variety of corn out of many that were tested at the 
Pennsylvania Station. 
Dry weight in 1 acre of several varieties of corn at different stages of growth. 
Ears | Kernels 
Variety. tasseled,) Alling | begin to) Narar® 
Pounds. | Pounds. | Pounds. | Pounds. 
STOUT SHE LOLIIC eee sec aae ee ee ee in ee She ee 2,735 5, 289 | 4,695 2,310 
Chestarsviamim othe 2s saee sneer sare ee oak eee 3, 392 4, 337 5, 690 3,073 
GoldentBeauby 62232 s--= sos eae cas tee Sees wee eee wun 2,499 3, 950 4,619 2, 835 
1D eS pS ae eee RR te ae er 2,845 3, 443 | 4, 636 3, 077 
ENDINGS 19/5) ie eee 2,683 | 3,825| 5,344} 2,529 
