You can make 30 extra bushels of 

 cheaper corn from most of your 

 corn land over and above what 

 you are now doing unless you are 

 already producing 125 bushels or 

 more per acre. 



This statement will interest most corn 

 growers, since state average yields are 

 running iO and sometimes 50 bushels per 

 acre in the Midwest. 



You want to know how this can be 

 done, especially since the bushels most 

 of you are growing cost anywhere from 

 75 cents to S2 each, depending on how 

 big your yields are. Tlie extra bushels 

 will cost you about 40 to 60 cents eai.li. 

 Your own college specialists have this 

 same information for you. Tiiis is to 

 urge you to use them. 



This cannot be the whole story of iiow 

 to build the land through proper land 

 use, with heavily fertilized deep rooted 

 legumes, and soil conserving rotations. 

 We mu.st limit this to how to get those 

 30 extra bushels per acre from the con- 

 dition your corn land is in now. 



Suppose your land is such that you are 

 expecting to make about 70 bushels per 

 acre this year. To do this you expca 

 to apply in the row about 200 pounds 

 per acre of 2-12-6. (Unhappily, most 

 of you will have no choice but to use this 

 uneconomic grade — ^100 pounds ot -i- 

 2-1-12 or 150 pounds of 3-18-9 would be 

 more to your advantage). 



If the rainfall is enough for a ~o- 

 bushel crop it is enough for the 30 extra 

 bushels or for a lOO-bushel crop too. 

 The two most probable "bottlenecks" 

 stopping your yield at the 70-bushel level 

 are: (1) lack of sufficient stand, and (2) 



By GEORGE D. SCARSETH 



Director of Research, American Farm 

 Research Association 



lack of sufficient nitrogen. To go to 

 100 bushels per acre or more, you have 

 to cut the pattern that wide. 



Here is what it takes at the 70-bushel 

 level to get 30 extra bushels on most 

 soils. (We assume that while phosphate, 

 potash, lime and minor elements are 

 likely deficient, tlie bulk of these should 

 be applied in front of the legumes when 

 seeding the grains and as topdressings on 

 the hay). 



1. Experiments have proven that it 

 takes about two pounds of nitrogen to 

 make each extra bushel of corn; so plow 

 under, preferably in tlic spring, 60 

 pounds of nitrogen per acre. This takes 

 about 190 pounds ammonium nitrate, or 

 300 pounds cyanamid or ammonium sul- 

 phate or 375 pounds of nitrate of soda. 

 If you know you have a potash deficiency 

 include 100 pounds of muriate of pot- 

 ash. 



2. Apply at planting time the equiva- 

 lent of 100 pounds per acre of 4-2-i-12 

 or 5-20-20. This is largely a starter to 

 feed the corn when small and to get it 

 out ahead of the weeds. 



3. It takes about 3,000 stalks (single 

 cars) to make 30 bushels of corn, so for 

 a lOO-bushel crop you should have a 

 stand of about 12,000 stalks (ears) per 

 ■icre. 



-i. If you are one of those who want to 

 try for higher stakes, extend the above 

 formula to fit your needs. 



The whole story about how thick to 

 plant corn boils down to a simple rule 

 George Enfield of Purdue University has 

 recently announced. 



"When corn is drilled in 40 inch rows 

 use this rule: Divide 1,000 by the num- 

 ber of bushels you think the land is ca- 

 pable of producing per acre and the num- 

 ber you get is the inches to space each 

 kernel. Thus for 100 bushels the spacing 

 is 10 inches and for 150 bushels the 

 spacing is seven inches, etc. 



When corn is checked 40 by 40 inches 

 use this rule: Plant 1 kernel per hill for 

 each 30 bushels you think the land is 

 capable of producing. Thus for 90 bush- 

 els use three kernels and for 120 bushels 

 use four inches. 



If you overestimate the productive ca- 

 pacity of the soil and plant too thick 

 the ears will be small. (Ohio State sci- 

 entists have shown that the biggest yields 

 were obtained from 8 oz. ears). 



If you underestimate the productive 

 capacity of the soil and plant too thin 

 your yield won't be as big as your goal, 

 because there won't be enough stalks and 

 ears to make a bigger yield. However, 

 the ears will be big. 



Professors Reed and Salter reported 

 many results from a lot of field tests 

 that brought them to this conclusion: — 

 "To obtain maximum returns for large 

 applications of fertilizer, it is necessary 

 to maintain a planting rate of 12,000 to 

 14.000 plants per acre." For example in 

 19-*"* from 20 fields with a stand of 

 8,000 to 10.000 stalks per acre they 

 averaged 70.8 bushels with only a row 

 fertilizer, and only 77.5 bushels when 50 

 pounds of nitrogen (equivalent to 156 

 pounds ammonium nitrate per acre) per 

 acre were plowed under in addition to 

 the use of the row application. However, 

 when the stand was increased to 12,000 

 "or over" along with the 50 pounds of 

 nitrogen the yields averaged 94.6 bushels 

 per acre. 



Purdue University experiments show 

 that four kernels per hill has ranged from 

 3 to 1 5 bushels more per acre than the 

 three kernel rate on good soils. 



Professors Seem and Richer showed 

 that almost no increase (only 3 bushels 

 per acre) from heavy fertilization (600 

 pounds per acre 10-10-10 plowed under) 

 resulted when the stand was too thin, 

 that is, 18 inches spacing in 42 inch 

 rows (7.100 stalks per acre), but the in- 

 crease was 20 bushels when the spacing 

 was 8.4 inches (17,700 .stalks per acre). 



They also showed that to increase the 

 stand without increasing the fertility re- 

 sulted in only a change from 68 to 77 

 bushels per acre, however, at the higher 

 fertility level the yields went from 71 to 

 97 bushels as the stand was changed from 

 7,100 to 17,700 stalks per acre. 



20 



I. A. A. RECORD 



