SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 55 



be a desirable change for all concerned if it could be agreed 

 to discard the bushel as a unit of measure and substitute 

 the actual weight of the crop. 



To show the value of this change, only a few illustrations 

 of its convenience are needed. As most of our cereals are 

 used at times for feed, the question often arises, which is 

 it more economical to feed and which to sell? If oats are 

 selling at 60 cents per bushel of 32 pounds, and corn at 98 

 cents per bushel of 56 pounds, it is a somewhat complicated 

 problem to determine just what is the relative price of the 

 two crops. If the same problem were to arise and the rela- 

 tive prices were the same, with 100 pounds as the unit of 

 measure instead of the bushel, it would be stated as follows: 

 Oats, $1.87^A per cwt. ; corn, $1.75 per cwt. The comparison 

 is instantly and accurately made without computation. An- 

 other problem that often arises on the farm is to determine 

 the advisability of increasing or decreasing the relative acre- 

 ages of some of the cereal crops. A comparison by bushels 

 is certainly unfair, if feed is the object of the crop. If one 

 knows that barley has been yielding about 25 bushels, oats 

 35 bushels, and corn 30 bushels to the acre, one is likely to 

 have a different idea of the relative importance of the crops 

 than one would if the yields were stated in pounds to the 

 acre as follows: Barley, 1,200 pounds; oats, 1,120 pounds; 

 and corn, 1,680 pounds. 



SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 



63. Soils. Corn grows best in warm, rich, moist, well- 

 drained sandy loam soils. It should not be inferred, how- 

 ever, that this crop will not thrive on aiiy other kind of soil, 

 because it will grow and is grown on soils of almost every 

 type. It will grow on very light, poor land, but it makes 

 really good growth only on deep, rich soil. It is a strong 

 feeder, and can make use of coarse manure and soddy land 

 better than most other field crops. 



