Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-05-05

soils, Of plants and of manures, and have the
skill gained only by practice which will en-
able him TO suit the treatment to the case in
hand.
Professor Atwater says, with truth, that
"Vermont farmers cannot afford to pay from
nineteen to twentyseven dollars for fertil-
izers for an acre of corn" He adds that
"the experiments previously described show
that Mr. Lawes' mixture would frequently
fail for lack of potash, and the large quanti-
ties of superphosphate and plaster in the
Vile would not do for u.s. In the Stock
bridge formula the chief expense is for the
nitrogen. The mineral ingredients, gu
perphosphate and potash salt, are compare
lively inexpensive" And he asks, Will
they serve the purpose without the nitro
gem Upon this question he first calls at
tention to the feeding capacity of plants,
and notes that leguminous crops, such as
clover and the COW pea of the south, edo,
somehow or other, gather good supply of
nitrogen where cereals, such as wheat, bar
ley, rye and oats, would half starve for lack
lack of it, and this in face of the fact that
leguminous plants contain a great deal of
nitrogen, and cereals relatively little. As
matter of experience, it is found that while
wheat usually demands and responds to nit
rogenous manures, clover does well with
mineral fertilizers, superphosphate potash
salts, plaster, ashes, ETC., and is very little
helped by nitrogen. And, what is still more
remarkable, the best evidence we have indi.
Gates that after a crop of clover with its
large amount of nitrogen is taken away, the
soil is little or no poorer in nitrogen than it
was before the clover grew upon it. Indeed,
taking into account the roots and stubble, it
is richer. Hence clover is known as : rem
ovating crop, while wheat ranks as an lex
hausting crop. Often the best way to ma
nure the land is to grow clover and turn it
under. or feed it out and return the manure
to the land"
The professor then asks whether corn is
an exhausting or renovatiDg crop That
is, Can corn gather its nitrogen from soil
and air like clover, or does it, like wheat,
require large quantities in fertilizers2 Is it
especially helped by phosphoric acid, like
tnrnips, or is potash more important to aid
its growth2 The main question is the nitro
gen supply. If farmers who have not enough
manure advance from $40 to S1j cash in the
spring for nitrogen for an acre Of corn, run
a. ..a1.. e
until winter for the return, the future of
corn-growing is not bright. But if, on the
other hand, we may omit the nitrogen, ap-
ply only the inexpensive mineral fertilizers,
reduce the yield but little, have the corn
gather the nitrogen itself, feed it to the stock,
and thus get rich manure for other crops at
low cost, then corn-growing with CONNER
cial fertilizers may become one of the most
potent agencies for the amelioration of agri-
culture of Vermont"
In support of the view that corn may be
classed with the renovating crops which
gather their own nitrogen, and when fed out
on the farm give farmer who is careful of
his manure rich heterogeneous fertilizer, the
professor quotes experiments on Colonel
Mead's farm (Which we shall revert to here
after), aud similar trials made by the farm
superintendent of the New Hampshire and
Maine agricultural colleges, going to show
that fertilizer containing due share of
phosphoric acid and potash will give paying
crops without nitrogen, while heterogeneous
fertilizers, even when they clearly increase
the CROP do not generally increase it enough
to pay for the cost We have partially
given our own views on this subject in our
remarks upon Professor Atwater's previous
article. We cannot look upon corn as rem
ovating crop, in the sense that clover is one.
1t does not leave the ground in good condi-
ton for any succeeding crop without manure,
as clover does. Analysis shows that the
manure from corn, either the grain or the
fodder, is not nearly as rich in nitrogen as
the manure from clover We doubt whether
corn is less exhausting than wheat, though
doubtless less so than oats. But we are sure
that corn will get along with less nitrogen
in the manure than any other grain crop,
and that what nitrogen it wants it wants
early in the season, to "give it good start"
Afterwards, with an adequate supply of
phosphoric acid and potash, ,geH distributed
through the soil, corn will make good crop,
and often better one, so far as regards the
bushels of grain, than where much nitrogen
is applied. But where maximum fodder
crop is aimed at we want plenty of nitrogen,
either in dung or fertilizers, to give strong,
uxuriant growth.
These articles of Professor Atwater will
be widely read, and will, no doubt, stimulate
our farmers to try to raise good crops of
corn with the mixture which he recommends
of three hundred pounds of superphospbate
and hundred and fifty pounds of muriate
of potash to the acre. We shall watch the
results of these experiments with interest.
expect that on reversed sod, or on stubble
land in good heart, the experiment will in
many cases seem to be successful one. But
if followed right along on the same land,
year diter year, the pottoth Will uroP out,
we fear, and Professor Atwater will lose
credit with the farmers. And even in ro-
tation with potatoes, or other roots, small
grains aud grass, corn so grown will be re-
ported as "sapping the ground more than
any other crop.
Corn "Bagasse as Feed.
Mr. Allen Morse of Calais calls our at
| tnntion 10 tho follourinn xtract frnrn a 70.