THE GENESEE FARMER. 



75 



Ir. Tucker very truly states that the experiments on 

 lian corn undertaken and published by Mr. Harris, "in 

 le respects seem to go further in support of Mr. Rus- 

 's views than Mr. Harris admits." The fact is, they go 

 te as far as ever I expected they would. Th'e result 

 i, that the superphosphate of lime in the two experi- 

 its made in 1S57, increased the produce to the extent 

 jnesixth. The increase was ten bushels of nnshelled 

 ti in the one experiment, and thirteen in the other. 

 ! sulphate of ammonia no doubt gave a larger increase. 

 I had no idea that I had ever expressed any opinion 

 ; such a result might not be expected in the generality 

 ustances. 



he results of the experiments which Mr. Harris insti- 

 Klon the Chinese sugar cane (sorghum saccharatum) 

 e proved to him a puzzle ! They are " quite contrary 

 lis expectations, and go decidedly to support Mr. 

 sell's doct*-ine."* 1 do not consider that they support 

 views one whit more thoroughly than the results 

 IS experiments on Indian corn. I have long ago point- 

 ut the principles which should have led us to expect 

 the increase would be much greater when applied 

 )rghuni than to Indian corn, though both belono- to 

 same family of plants. The family connection, in fact 

 nothing to do with the matter. "The produce of the 

 ir cane was increased nearly tenfold by an application 

 iperphosphate of lime, while the maize was only in- 

 5ed to the extent of one-sixth. 

 Mr. Harris had not entirely forgotten what I wrote 



ago regarding the turnip, he might easily have 

 id the problem for himself. The sorghum and the 

 in corn are not unlike each other when they are 

 'lag. The former, however, has 7nuch smaller seecU 

 It IS simply this peculiarity which renders npplica- 

 . of sulphate or phosphate of lime "more marked " 

 ne ot ray papers to which Mr. Tucker refers, the 

 iving extract from the AgHcuUural Gazette of Jan. 

 ^ IS given ; " The increase of a crop by the application 

 wsphatet tspre-eminentlyseenin the turnip, but this is 

 V m consequence of the smallness of its seed and the 

 iity of tt^ growth:' The seed of the Chinese sugar 

 IS not so small, certainly, as the seed of the turnip 

 ts growth is quite as rapid.f 



e small seeds of the sorghum, rn Mr. Harris' exppri- 

 s, were sown at wide intervals or "in hills" This 

 lelped to render the effects of th< mineral manures 

 e more striking. The plants had to form large and 

 g roots before they could run through the wide spaces 

 take up the necessary elements which vigorous 

 th demanded. There being only a short supply of 

 orming matters in the small seeds, the rootless, as a 

 sary consequence, were peculiarly grateful for an 

 3ial supply of phosphates. On the "unmanured 

 tbe plants were miserable and shrivelled." Phos- 

 3 and sulphates supplied the materials in the first 

 ice for the formation of roots, to enable the plants 

 :e possession of the soil. I do not believe that the 

 ence between the manured and unmanured produce 

 1 have been nearly so great had Mr. Harris sown the 

 um broadcast. By this mode the number of plants 

 I have been multiplied, and to some extent have 

 up for the supply of root-forming matter. Each 



too, would have had much less space to travel over 

 he labor of finding food would thas have been 

 id amongst a greater number. A large seed, like a 



bulbous root, renders an artificial supply of phosphates 

 to the soil less neceesarv. 



One word further about the growth of Indian corn in 

 the United States. Though it is " the ordinary custom" 

 ot the farmers in the vicinity of Albany and Rochester, 

 as well as in Canada, and in all the Northern States, to 

 manure for Indian corn on the wheat soils, it is not so in 

 Southern Ohio and in the same latitude in other States to 

 the West. It IS in these parts that wheat and Indian 

 corn alternate and where the produce of the former is 

 only about half of the latter. And though Indian corn is 

 cultivated without manure in Southern Ohio on soils 

 which are no richer than the best wheat soils in the 

 vicinity of Rochester, yet Indian corn is far more produc- 

 tive in the rich bottoms of the Scioto than in those ot the 

 Uenesee or the Mohawk. Indian corn, when its climatic 

 conditions are fovorable, can evidently take more ammonia 

 than wheat from the atmosphere, but it can also take a 

 vast deal more with advantage from the soil. 



The theory of plants "consuming nitrogen," and de- 

 manding It specially in the manures, in consequence of 

 having seeds abounding in starch, oil or sugar, though 

 long fashionable, is now almost abandoned in this coun- 

 try. _ The fact is, all agricultural plants are composed of 

 nearly the same snbstances, and they are all benefitted by 

 neaHy the same substances. Each individual species hais 

 a dittereut capacity of digesting and assimilating a given 

 amount of food. Some, also, have greater facilities for 

 taking up food from the soil and atmosphere than others 

 1 heir physiological peculiarities must be carefully 

 studied to trace the influence of specific manures under 

 various conditions. The effect of the different seasons, 

 too, is great in regulating what substances can be applied 

 most economically. Phosphoric manures, though quite 

 useless for turnips grown by the market gardener, are in- 

 valuable m the hands of the farmer. In fact, the require- 

 ments of the turnip as regards manuring, vary more with 

 the season in which it happens to be sown than the re- 

 quirements of any two plants of the most diverse genera 

 with which the agriculturist has to deal. 



e result of thege experimente were contrary to our expecta- 

 nt it is Mr. TncKBE wh,o says they "go decidedly to sup- 

 Ir. EiTggKLL's doctrine." In this he may be right, but it 

 le remembered that plaster alone gave as great an increaae 

 erphosphate, which contamg both plaeter and soluble pho»- 



this point we have ourselves remarked as foUowi : 

 e growth of sorghum during the early staees of the plant is 

 mgly slow; the seed ig quite smaU, and it would se^m that 

 ry egsent.al to have a good supply of available ' plant-food' 

 lediate contact with iL In the case of corn, the seed is go 

 hat its decay affords considerable food for the young plant: 

 s IS not the ca«e with the email sorghum seed, and ft geemi 

 L^i. ''P'^'°",^ substance which shall furnish the needed 

 for the young p ant. Of aU the manures used, plaster had 

 Jatest effect. It gave the plants an early start, and when 

 ts fau-ly occupied the ground, and the soU was warmed br 

 mner's luxi, the growth waa very rapid." 



Remaekb. — The point of difference between Mr. 

 RuesKLi, and ourselves, is one of much scientific 

 interest, as well as of great practical importance. 

 It affects the entire ratiftiale of all systems of 

 rotation of crops. Confessedly, no element of 

 plant-food is of so much practical value as am- 

 monia. "We have repeatedly asserted what Mr. 

 Russell here reiterates, that all our crops are 

 composed of precisely the same elements. But it 

 is equally true that some plants require more of 

 certain elements than others. In a scientific point 

 of view, one element is as important as another ; 

 but in practice such is not the case. A plant will 

 not grow if either sulphuric or phosphoric acid is 

 absent from the soil, and in this sense both are of 

 equal importance ; but as soils are generally more 

 deficient in phosphoric acid than in sulphuric acid, 

 and as the former is removed by plants in greater 

 proportion, and as it costs much more to replace it 

 than the latter, we regard phosphoric acid of more 

 practical importance in manures than sulphuric 

 acid. The same is true of ammonia. For th« 

 growth of -wheat we certainly need much more of it 

 than we are able to'get. It can not be purchased 

 unless at great cost, and all will now admit that 

 every operation of agriculture should be so ooi^ 

 ducted, other things being equal, as to accumuJatB 

 on the farm as much of this substance as possible. 



