162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



and another man grows it in Massachusetts, where clover is 

 worth something ; and one man raises fruit down in 

 Connecticut, where the air and the sunshine give him a large 

 part of the material which he wants, and another man, my 

 friend Rawson, for instance, raises early cabbages out in 

 Arlington, and he wants to get his crop in the market just 

 as quickly as he can. Now, these are conditions, and not a 

 theory. 



Professor Roberts. I do not think I can answer all 

 those questions in a specific way. I should say that I 

 would prefer to take for illustration the corn plant. 



Mr. Bow r KER. Now, professor, that is hardly fair, be- 

 cause the corn crop is not a great feeder on nitrogen. Well, 

 go ahead. 



Professor Roberts. In the corn crop we want an early, 

 rapid growth. Nitrogen is largely used in the early stages 

 of growth. So, if you want to push a corn crop, push it 

 with nitrogen; but, if you get too much nitrogen in the 

 soil, the plants will be weak and watery.' I can spoil a root 

 crop with a heavy dose of raw manure produced from feed- 

 ing rich food. So I would put my commercial fertilizers 

 on my roots, I would put my nitrogenous manure on the 

 grasses and on the corn crop, but I would be careful not to 

 get too much of it on the corn, because I shall want phos- 

 phoric acid to mature the kernel. 



Mr. Gerrish, of the " Mirror and Farmer," New Hamp- 

 shire. I want to say just a word on this nitrogen question. 

 I want you to understand that I am a practical working 

 farmer; I work my pencil as a little side issue, using 

 it from a practical farmer's stand-point. Nearly fifteen 

 years ago, when Professor Sanborn was on our college farm, 

 he wanted me to take part in a series of experiments on 

 corn, and wanted me to furnish the chemicals. I sat down 

 and wrote him, "Professor Sanborn, I have always raised 

 sheep and clover on my farm, and I cannot afford to buy 

 nitrogen to raise corn ; but, as a matter of experiment, I 

 will buy it in order to be uniform with the experiments in 

 other towns." Pretty soon Professor Sanborn and the 

 scientists got my idea, and Professor Sanborn came out and 

 those gentlemen came out and Lawes and Gilbert of Eng- 



