ADAPTATION TO YAEIETIES OF SOIL AND 

 CLIMATE. 



THE different conditions and qualities of soil re- 

 sulting from the combination of its elements in vary- 

 ing proportions, are not only numerous, but probably 

 incalculable. This diversity is strikingly illustrated 

 in the fact that adjacent fields, however similar in ap- 

 pearance, are often found to differ, and sometimes 

 widely, under the test of chemical analysis. 



Yet of the almost endless diversity of soils, it is 

 remarkable from how small a number maize is ex- 

 cluded. In nearly all of them it will grow to matu- 

 rity, while in most of them it thrives with tolerable 

 treatment, and repays a generous culture with an 

 abundant crop. " Indian corn," says the Farmers 

 Encyclopedia, " can be cultivated on land, long after 

 it has ceased to afford compensating crops of any other 

 grain. It contends with poverty better than most 

 other plants, and may be advantageously grown in 

 any soil fit for cultivation, not excepting blowing 

 sands or retentive clay." 



" Corn will grow," says Mr. Joseph Harris, " on 

 all soils, from the lightest sand to the heaviest clay, 



