FEEDING THE PLANT 93 



its ameliorating and renovating character, its growth 

 really results in reducing immediate fertility much less 

 than would a crop containing the same amount of con- 

 stituents grown at a different season and without cul- 

 tivation. Still, in order that the food required by a 

 crop of this size may be obtained, it is essential that on 

 land of good natural fertility, it shall be well prepared 

 and managed, and that poorer soils shall receive -a 

 judicious application of manures. 



THE NATURAL CHARACTER OF SOIL A GUIDE AS TO THE 

 NEEDS OF THE PLANT 



The natural character of the soil is a guide to 

 some extent in determining whether the crop can be 

 successfully grown without added fertility. A large 

 crop cannot be expected on a light, sandy soil, naturally 

 deficient in potash, unless that particular element is 

 applied, because the analysis of the crop shows that 

 this constituent is required in relatively large amounts. 

 The same is true of nitrogen ; a sandy soil is naturally 

 deficient in this element, and a large crop could not be 

 expected without the direct addition of fertilizers con- 

 taining nitrogen, or the introduction of this element 

 indirectly in the form of green manures from legumi- 

 nous crops. Still a good corn crop can be grown on 

 such soils with a smaller quantity of both nitrogen and 

 potash than could a crop of a different class, which 

 makes its maximum growth at a different season. 



Corn Plant a Good Forager — The corn, crop is, in 

 the first place, a good forager, due to the vigor of the 

 crop itself, extracting food unavailable to less vigorous 

 growers ; in the second place, it has an advantage over 

 many cereal crops in the season of its growth, namely, 

 the summer, when the natural agencies, sun, air and 

 water, are most active in causing insoluble materials 



