CORN 61 



land. It costs as much to plow and otherwise prepare poor 

 land fox* a crop of corn as it does to prepare good land; the 

 subsequent cultivation is just as expensive, and every step 

 in the progress of raising a poor crop from poor land is prac- 

 tically as costly as every similar step in producing a good 

 crop from good land. Year after year some men raise corn 

 on land so poor that with the best cultivation only a small 

 crop can be raised, and this always without profit. Why not 

 bring the land up ta the condition which will make it per- 

 manently profitable? 



Soil upon which corn is to be grown often responds with 

 increased yields through crop rotation, the growing of clover, 

 even though it be removed, and the use of complete commer- 

 cial fertilizers; but these methods do not provide for per- 

 manent soil fertility, nor do they always return a profit on 

 the investment, 



Permanent soil fertility. There is a difference between 

 adding complete commercial fertilizer even though increased 

 crop yields result, and the maintenance of permanent soil 

 fertility at a lesser annual yield. It is to be correctly inferred 

 from the above that the use of complete commercial fertilizers 

 does not maintain permanent soil fertility, and no one can 

 deny that we should kjeep a permanent if not an increasing 

 soil fertility. 



How can this be done is the practical question to raise. 

 How can we feed the corn and keep the soil fertile? To 

 begin at the beginniirg, let us take a typical Middle West 

 acre. The first requirement is that the soil should be well 

 drained. The next is that it shall have plenty of active 



