84 CORN 



CORN AND SOIL FERTILITY 



SOIL ADAPTED TO CORN. With a favorable climate, the 

 factor which influences the yield of corn most is the nature and 

 condition of the soil. Corn will thrive on a wide variety of soils, but 

 it will grow best and give the most profitable returns on a dark lOam 

 that is well supplied with humus or organic matter. The soil should 

 be well drained at the surface, although a water table three or four 

 feet below is an advantage rather than otherwise. Such a soil is most 

 often found on the bottom lands of the glaciated areas of the corn 

 belt. Profitable crops may also be produced upon light soils, if they 

 are so handled, by manuring and the growing of leguminous crops, 

 so that the supply of humus is maintained. 



Although corn is a vigorous grower, a gross feeder, and can utilize 

 such materials as coarse barnyard manures better than most other 

 cereals, it does not do well on poor land. Some crops are not depend- 

 ent for grain production on the total growth of the plant; but the 

 nature of corn is such that it will not produce a heavy yield of grain 

 unless the soil is rich enough to permit a considerable growth of 

 stalks and the largest yield is not secured unless the stalks attain a 

 strong vigorous development. For this reason it is best to grow other 

 crop on very poor land until its fertility can be built up. 



INFLUENCES OF SOIL ON COMPOSITION OF CORN. The 



composition of the corn plant and particularly the protein content, 

 varies with the conditions under which it is grown. Among the fac- 

 tors which determine the composition, the fertility of the soil is a 

 most important one. This subject has been studied extensively at the 

 Wisconsin Experiment Station.* It was there found that corn grown 

 in sand to which no fertilizer had been applied, contained but 8.44 

 per cent protein, as compared with 9.94 per cent when a small amount 

 vi sodium nitrate was added to the soil, and 11.5 per cent when that 

 amount of fertilizer was doubled. 



The results of the experiments point toward the following con- 

 clusions : 



(i) "That the percentage of protein in the plant is dependent 

 directly upon the amount of nitrate in the soil ; 



(2) That corn on different fields may make very nearly equal 

 growth, while differing materially in percentage of protein produced; 



(3) That beyond a certain point, the percentage of protein is not 

 increased by excess of nitrates ; and 



♦Wisconsin Station Reports 1902, pp. 192 — 209; 1904, pp. 198 — 9. 



