604 



TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



Culture and Manuring of mealies. 



By Alexander Pardy, F.C.S. 



A STUDY of the root system of the 

 mealie is of the utmost practical im- 

 portance in indicating a proper system of 

 land preparation, manuring, and cultiva- 

 tion of that crop. 



I am indebted to the U.S.A. North 

 Dakota Agricultural College authorities 

 for a copy of their publication, giving 

 much valuable information from a study 

 of the mealie root which has been closely 

 investigated by them. The method of 

 observation they adopted was the cage 

 system ; the plants with the soil in which 

 they grew were enveloped in a wire- 

 netting box, through which wires were 

 interlaced from side to side to keep the 

 roots in their natural position, so that 

 when the soil was washed away by a force 

 of water the roots were exposed to view 

 in the exact position which they occupied 

 when in the soil. The following con- 

 densed description may serve to give 

 some insight into the development of the 

 roots as observed by these investigators. 



The hills were 3 feet apart, and each 

 contained 5 stalks of corn. The average 

 height of the plants to the tip of the 

 leaves was 26 inches at 30 days after 

 planting when first examined ; the stalks 

 extended beneath the surface of the 

 ground 1\ to 1\ inches. From the base 

 of the stalks the roots radiated in the 

 form of whorls ; up to this date the main 

 development of the roots appeared to be 

 lateral, or to the side rather than directly 

 beneath the plant ; the roots from each 

 hill had met and interlaced, some being 

 as much as 2 feet long. These siiie roots 

 lay from 2\ to 4^ inches below the sur- 

 face, a few having penetrated to a depih 

 of 12 inches, but the bulk of them lay 

 within 8 inches of the surface. 



The field was hoed four times, but re- 

 ceived no other cultivation, and at 55 

 days old the corn stood 54 inches high 

 and 70 inches to the tip of the leaves ; 

 the roots were much more numerous, 

 several whorls being thrown out above 

 the others, those in the last whorls being 

 4 to 6 inches long and resembling brace 

 roots. Nearly all the latter whorls had 



struck directly downwards into the soil, 

 reaching a greater depth than the earlier 

 roots, and were coarser and stronger than 

 those which ran laterally. Many of the 

 primary roots had penetrated to a depth of 

 2^ feet, the horizontal roots had increased 

 both in number land length, exten ling 

 now from hill to hill, inclining slightly 

 most of their length, but finally, at about 

 3 to 31 feet from the hill, they dipped 

 almost vertically downward, probably on 

 account of the dry weather in the latter 

 part of their growth. The horizontal 

 roots had sent out small feeders extending 

 in all directions upward, laterally, and 

 downward. Many vertical branches of 

 the roots reached depths almost equal 

 to the primary vertical roots directly be- 

 neath the hill ; these branches gave off 

 other branches, so that the whole soil at 

 this stage was practically filled with roots 

 to the depth of 2 feet. 



At 90 days, when the ears had developed 

 almost to the milky stage, it was observed 

 that the ground to within an inch of the 

 surface was full of small fibrous roots ; 

 the soil of the whole field to the depth of 

 3^ feet was fully occupied by the roots of 

 the mealies. 



From this interesting account of the 

 root development it will be seen that the 

 mealie is largely a surface feeder, throw- 

 ing out its roots horizontally ^ ithin an 

 inch of the surface ; it is also a heavy 

 feeder, as indicated by the large mass of 

 roots sent out in search of food and mois- 

 ture, and the plan of their distribution 

 should serve as a guide to the cultivation 

 and care of the crop if the significance of 

 these developments are properly inter- 

 preted. 



It has been estimated that the evapora- 

 tion of moisture through the crop in com- 

 parison is far greater than the average of 

 other crops ; yet, although its moisture 

 requirements are great, it is very suscep- 

 tible to standing or stagnant water. So 

 long as the drainage is good and the 

 water does not lie at its roots it will 

 flourish during abundant rain ; for this 

 reason a deep free soil, containing a good 



