THE SOIL AND ITS CONSTITUENTS. 



ALTHOUGH Indian corn will grow, as already stated, 

 on nearly every kind of soil, from the lightest sand to 

 the heaviest clay, yet, like other plants and grains, it 

 has its preferences, and the interest of the farmer lies 

 in consulting these as far as possible. However well 

 it may succeed on lands where other grains would fail 

 entirely, or make a feeble growth, it is only in a well- 

 adapted soil that its best capability is developed. Give 

 it a congenial element, in which its hungry roots can 

 range and riot without limit, and it will make generous 

 returns, that will even exceed the liberality of the 

 treatment. " It delights," says Mr. Harris, " in a loose, 

 pliable, warm, porous, deep soil, abounding in organic 

 matter. It does well on all good wheat soils, yet it 

 often does better on soils too light and mucky for 

 wheat. It is a gross feeder. We can easily make 

 land too rich for wheat, but I have never yet seen 

 any too rich for the production of Indian corn." 



The fertility of soils is determined chiefly by the 

 amount of available plant-food contained in them. 

 The cereals, and nearly all cultivated plants, are found 



