92 CORN 



In connection with the Illinois experiments just referred to, a 

 system of "live stock farming" is being studied, in which manure was 

 applied to the plots each year in proportion to the crop yields the 

 previous year. For the years 1905, 1906 and 1907, manure was ap 

 plied to plots similar to those used in the "grain farming" experi; 

 ment, with the result of raising the average yield to 81 bushels per 

 acre, as compared with 69 bushels without the manure and 35 bushels 

 for continuous corn. 



Results equally favorable for barnyard manure have been obtained 

 by the Iowa Station on the Missouri Loess soils of that state.* 



Another test was conducted in Oklahoma** showing the effect of 

 manure on the corn crop with a three-year rotation including corii, 

 oats, and wheat followed by cow peas. To one set of plots manure 

 was added at the rate of 13.4 tons per acre in February, 1900, while 

 another set was left untreated. The average yield from the three 

 crops of corn 1900, 1903 and 1906 where manure was added was 36.18 

 bushels of corn per acre and 2.28 tons of stover. From the unmanured 

 plots, the yield of corn was only 26.33 bushels and of stover 1.73 tons. 



TABLE NO. 18 



SHOWING THE EFFECT OF MANURE ON YIELD, AND WATER REQUIRE- 

 MENTS OF CORN ON DIFFERENT TYPES. 



To the infertile soil, capable of producing 15 bushels of corn per 

 acre, the addition of manure reduced the water requirements of the 

 plant 36.3 per cent, and multiplied the crop yield. In the case of the 

 more fertile soil, capable of producing from 30 to 50 bushels of corn 

 per acre, the benefit was less noticeable, but by no means negligible. 



FERTILIZERS. It is probable that at the present time it would 

 not prove profitable to use commercial fertilizers for the production 

 of corn on the soil of the corn belt west of Illinois. There may be a 

 few restricted areas, such as peaty swamp soils which would require 

 potassium, and a few acid soils which should be limed, to which this 

 rule does not apply. However, the investigations of several of the 



*Iowa Bulletin No. 96. 

 ••Oklahoma Bulletin No. 87 

 "♦Nebraska Bulletin, Vol. XIV, Article VI. 



