220 Fertilizers 



in the feeding of plants as in the feeding of animals with 

 the plants. 



ILLUSTRATION OP A ROTATION 



First year maize (corn) 



Second year oats 



Third year wheat 



Fourth year clover and timothy 



Fifth year timothy hay 



Indian corn exhaustive of the fertility elements. 



Since in rotations of this sort a fair number of live 

 stock is usually kept, a considerable amount of ma- 

 nure is made, which should be carefully cared for and 

 used, as it contributes materially to the success of the 

 plan. The manure may be used in part on land for 

 corn, and should be spread broadcast, practically as 

 fast as made during the fall, winter and early spring. 

 Corn, because it is a gross feeder, and because it makes 

 most of its growth during the summer season, when ac- 

 tivities in the soil are most rapid, is able to appropriate 

 from the coarse manures a larger proportion of the con- 

 stituents than would be possible for crops which make 

 their greatest growth earlier or later in the season. In 

 the summer, too, the conditions are most favorable for 

 nitrification, and soils which possess a fair content of vege- 

 table matter are usually able to furnish the nitrogen needed 

 in addition to that supplied in the organic manures, par- 

 ticularly in the middle and southern states. The consid- 

 erable amounts of potash required for the growth of stalks, 

 and the phosphoric acid for the formation of grain, demand 

 that a liberal supply of these constituents be provided, 

 and the fertilizer for the corn should, therefore, contain 

 an abundance of available phosphoric acid and of potash. 



