1536 Tur VecetasLe Inpusrry In New York Strate 
that they are not needed to grow any specific crop, but rather to 
overcome deficiencies of available plant food in that particular 
type of soil. All of these types of soil are usually lacking in avail- 
able nitrogen unless well supplied with humus, and it should be 
supplied in large applications of organic matter, either in stable 
manure or by the use of cover crops; and even then there is apt to 
be a deficiency of available nitrogen early in the season, which 
should be supplied by a broadcast top-dressing of nitrate of soda 
at the rate of one hundred to two hundred pounds per acre. The 
application is made when the corn is two or three inches high. 
For best results the mineral elements, phosphorus and potassium, 
should also be applied at the rate of four hundred pounds of 
acid phosphate (14 per cent. available) and one hundred pounds 
of potash (50 per cent. actual) per acre; these to be mixed 
together and drilled into the soil broadcast with the fertilizer drill 
three or four inches deep, before planting. 
SEED 
The careful selection of seed corn from the field is one of the 
important factors of success in growing pop corn, and it is a good 
practice to grow the seed for the next year’s planting in a plot by 
itself, where the tassels may be removed from all poorly developed 
and barren stalks before they have shed their pollen. In this way 
we can do much toward breeding up our seed corn to the special 
type best suited to our needs, in the same way that we breed our 
animals for special purposes. 
PLACE IN ROTATION 
When grown in a regular rotation of crops, pop corn usually 
takes the place of ordinary field corn and for much the same 
reasons. Sometimes it is grown in place of one of the “money” 
crops, such as potatoes. This is often the case when the soil is 
too heavy for potatoes. The rotation then has to be arranged so 
that the pop corn and field corn are not grown in adjoining fields, 
as the pollen is carried by the wind and they become mixed very 
easily, which affects the quality and appearance of the pop corn. 
