MAIZE. 



277 



of laud, and at a cost not exceeding 17 dollars iO cents, delivered 

 in the crib. This is producing corn at less than 5 cents a bushel. 



"Whether the statement be true to the letter or not, it shows 

 conclusiA'elv the great value of a rich soil for making cheap corn. 

 The Board*^ of Agriculture estimates the crop of Ohio last year at 

 70,000,000 of bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, pro- 

 bably the crop of corn was never better than in the year 1849. 

 One that has rich land needs only to plough it deep and well, plant 

 in season, and cultivate the earth properly with a plough or culti- 

 vator, to secure the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils the 

 case is very different. 



To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at the least pos- 

 sible expense, requires some science and much skill in the art of 

 tillage. Take the same field to operate in, and one farmer will 

 grow 100 bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that another 

 will expend in labor, which is money. It unfortunately happens 

 that very skilful farmers are few in number, in comparison with 

 those who have failed to study and practice all attainable improve- 

 ments. To produce cheap corn on poor land, one needs a clear 

 understanding of what elements of the crop air and water will fur- 

 nish, and what they cannot supply. It should be remembered 

 that the atmosphere is precisely the same over ground which yields 

 100 bushels of corn per acre, that it is over that which produces 

 only five bushels per acre. JSTow, the whole matter which forms 

 the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds of corn, where the crop is 

 100 bushels per acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A harvest 

 equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained without consuming 

 over ten per cent, of earth, as compared with the weight of the 

 crop. No plant can imbibe more of the substance of the soil in 

 which it grows, than is dissolved in water, or rendered gaseous 

 by the decomposition of mould. 



The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic or inorganic, 

 during the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of 

 their solids, is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry 

 matter, in a mature, perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, 

 leaves, and roots, are carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. 

 It is not only an important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, 

 that the most effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those 

 that least abound in the elements of water and carbon. The un- 

 leached dry excrements of dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five 

 times the fertilising power on all cereal plants that the dry dung 

 of a grass-fed cow has, although the latter has five times more 

 carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100 pounds, than the former. 

 Although it is desirable to apply to the soil in which corn is to 

 grow as much of organised carbon and water as one conveniently 

 can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many miles, it is 

 important to know that such of the measure as would form coal, 

 if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of those 

 elements in manure which form vapor or water, wlien the fertiliser 

 decomposes in the ground. 



