THE INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATION WATER AND MANURE 
ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE CORN KERNEL 1 
By J. E. Greaves and D. H. Nelson, Department of Chemistry and Bacteriology , 
Utah Agricultural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
The total ash, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus 
content of wheat, oats, and barley has been found to increase directly 
with the increase in quantity of irrigation water applied during the 
growing period (5) ? This has been interpreted as being due to the 
increased bacterial activity resulting from an optimum moisture 
content (4) which would render available greater quantities of these 
specific elements to the growing plants. To test this theory, and also 
to obtain information concerning the composition of com grown on 
highly calcareous soil, the work here reported was undertaken. 
EXPERIMENTAL DATA 
SOIL 
The corn was grown on the Greenville Experiment Farm, the soil of 
which is of a sedimentary nature and contains large quantities of 
calcium and magnesium, probably in the form oi dolomite. In 
chemical and physical composition it is very uniform to a great depth. 
The chemical and physical analyses of the soil are given in Table I. 
The chemical analyses were made according to the official methods 
of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (1), and the 
physical analyses were made by means of the Yoder (9) soil elutriator. 
Table I .—Chemical and physical composition of the soil of the Greenville experi~ 
ment farm , North Logan , Utah 
Chemical composition 
Physical composition 
Constituent 
Per cent 
Constituent 
Per cent 
Insoluble residue_ 
4L46 
Coarse sand___ 
0.21 
Soluble silica_ _ 
.62 
Medium sand___ 
9.63 
Total. , . 
42.08 
Fine sand_ 
30.04 
Potash (KjO) 
.67 
Coarse silt.. ..... 
32.25 
Soda (Na20)..... 
.35 
Medium silt___ 
12.30 
Tim a (CaO) 
16.88 
FinA silt - 
6.25 
Magnesia (MgOy_ __ 
6.10 
Clay——_ 
7.63 
OxiriA of iron (FajOj 
3.03 
Moisture_ 
1.60 
Alumina (AlsOa)_ __ _ __ 
5.64 
Soluble and lost_ 
.10 
Phosphoric acid (P*0$) _ _ _ 
0.41 
Specific gravity . . 
2.67 
Carbon dioxide (CO*) 
19.82 
Apparent specific gravity.._ 
1.23 
Volatile matter__ 
5.6 
Water-soluble salts___ 
.06 
# 
Total..... 
100.69 
Humus___ 
.53 
Nitrogen.. 
.14 
1 Received for publication Oct. 14,1924; issued September, 1925. 
» Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited,” pp. 189. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
( 183 ) 
Vol. XXXI, No. 2 
July 15,1925 
Key No. Utah-19 
