1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



S3 



Culture of Indian Com. 



NO. II. 



As a general rule, subject however to some 

 exceptions, we believe that about 60 bushels of 

 corn can be grown per acre, at a cheaper rate 

 per bushel than either a larger or smaller quan- 

 tity. If we were under the necessity of buying 

 the land and raising 300 bushels per annum of 

 this grain for 20 years, we should use for that 

 purpose five acres, no more nor less, as a matter 

 of simple economy. With good culture, our 

 land should be fertile enough to yield 30 bushels 

 per acre without manure of any kind. In that 

 case it would be oui* study to solve the important 

 problem how to add 30 bushels more per acre to 

 our annual crop, at the least possible expense. 

 To do this, we should commence by applying to 

 our five acre lot, all the mineral elements which 

 Nature uses to form corn plants, so far as to yield 

 45 bushels of grain per acre ; calculating that 

 about one-third of these minerals when dissolved, 

 and ready to enter the roots of corn, would pass 

 deep into the earth, or run off with the water, 

 IjCyond the reach of the plants. Certain it is, 

 I hat soft water falling from the clouds, becomes 

 hard on leaching through the soil, and when 

 evaporated, leaves in a white deposit, the same 

 salts, or minerals found in the ash of corn plants 

 and other vegetables. 



Let us now inquire, what amount of earthy 

 minerals are necessary to form not merely 45 

 bushels of corn, but tlie strata, or stems, leaves 

 and cobs that must also be grown as a part of the 

 crop ? It is good corn that will give one pound 

 of seed to three of straw. To make 45 bushels, 

 at 56 lbs. per bushel, will require 2520 lbs. of 

 something. Multiply this sum by three, to get 

 the weight of stalks, cobs, &c., and you have it 

 at 7560 lbs. On drying these products thor- 

 oughly as chemists dry plants for analysis, seed 

 corn will lose 10 per cent, of water, and well 

 cured stalks 25 per cent. Substract the loss by 

 evaporation, and there will remain 5,670 lbs. of 

 dry straw, and 2,268 lbs. of grain. 



We stated in our last number, that Dr. Dana 

 found 1.31 per cent, ash in corn; and that Prof. 

 Shepard gives only 0.9 percent. M. Theodore 

 de Saussure finds as the average of his analysis 

 of this grain 1 per cent., which, as a sum be- 

 tween those stated by the two American chem- 

 ists, we shall adopt. This will give 22.68 lbs. 

 ash in 45 bushels of corn. Although Saussure 

 gives a much larger quantity of ash in the straw 

 of maize than Dr. Sprengel, still, there is 

 reason (which we will not now stop to consider) 

 to believe, that the analysis of the former chem- 

 ist are more trustworthy than those of the latter. 

 In 1000 lbs. of dry maize straw, de Saussure finds 

 84 lbs of incombustible ash, which gives in 5670 

 lbs. corn stalks, 476.28 lbs. If we add the min- 

 erals found in the seed of this plant to those con- 

 tained in its stems, leaves and cobs, the two will 



make within small fraction, just 500 lbs. to 45 

 bushels. According to Saussure, 51 per cent of 

 the ash of corn is tl)e phosphates of lime, mag- 

 nesia, potash, and soda. The other 49 per cent, 

 is made up of sulphates and clijorides of the 

 above named bases, 1 per cent, of silica, and a 

 trace of iron. 



In the ash obtained by burning maize straw, 

 Saussure finds 14.70 per cent, phospliates; 4 

 per cent, sulphates and chlorides ; 18 per cent 

 silica; 1 per cent carbonate of lime; and the 

 notable quantity of 59 per cent, carbonate of 

 potash (pearlash,) beside traces of iron and alu- 

 mina. 



Let us now sum up our mineral elements. 



In the corn tliere are of phosphates 11.50 lbs. 



•' straw 14.70 percent., " 66.70 " 



Straw and seed carbonate potasli, 295.00 " 



" " sulphates and chlorides, . . 30.00 " 



" " oxide of iron, lime, alumina, 6.80 " 



Silica, 90.00 " 



500,00 lbs. 



It is worthy of remark, that the 90 lbs. of sili- 

 ca, (flint sand,) is truly a mineral acid, and com- 

 bined, in the stems of corn and other plants with 

 potash, soda, and lime. No part, probably, of 

 the 295 lbs. potash exists in corn as a carbonate-^ 

 but as a neutral salt, made so by the union of 

 some vegetable acid, which is changed into car- 

 bonic acid, by the combustion of the plant. 

 Some may be disposed to doubt as to the fact of 

 there being so much pearlash in corn stalks and 

 cobs. Those that are old enough to remember 

 when saleratus was unknown, and pearlash was 

 so scarce, that cohash had to be used as a substi- 

 tute, will find less difficulty in believing the 

 chemist. Does the reader inquire how many- 

 pounds of good hard wood ashes he must apply 

 in the hill and on it, per acre, to yield 295 lbs of 

 potash to the crop? 100 lbs. of ashes put up in 

 a leach tub and washed (lixiviated or leached) 

 will lose from 10 to 20 per cent, of their weight 

 by solution. Good beech, maple, hickory, elm, 

 and oak ashes placed in the soil, will probably 

 yield in the course of three summer months 40 

 per cent, of their weight of soluble salts. Ac- 

 cording to this estimate, 1250 lbs. will furnish 

 an acre of corn plants with 500 lbs. of the salts 

 of potash, soda, magnesia, &c. But will 1250 

 lbs. of beech or oak ash, yield 78 lbs. of the 

 phosphates of those alkaline bases ? This is an 

 important inquiry. 



According to Dr. Sprengel, 100 lbs. of the 

 ash of red beech contains 5.62 per cent, of phos- 

 phoric acid. If we allow this acid to be combi- 

 ned with bases in corn stalks, in the same pro- 

 portion as exists in the bones of animals, (5H 

 base to 48^ acid,) then 100 lbs. of red beech ash, 

 contain, within a fraction, 12 lbs. of the phos- 

 phates required by corn plants. This would give 

 150 lbs. in 1250 of beech ash. Allowing only 

 40 per cent of these 150 lbs. of phosphates (bone 

 earth) to be available, the corn plants would ge! 



