The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-03-28
audexsatt yuteItigtHesr.
Feeding the Corn Crop:

Feeding the Corn Crop:
There is no doubt Of the fact, proved
as it has been by many exhaustive ex-
periments, that the use Of fertilizers
is far better for the corn crop than
that Of ordinary manure. The pro.
duotive ability Of the corn plant is
amazing. A single seed will repro.
duce itself 500 to 1000 times, while
the plant itself takes large amount
Of nutriment from the soil, making as
it does not less than twelve to twenty
tons Of green stalks and leaveson one
acre. This great product necessarily
calls for large amount Of available
.nutriment in the soil, all through the
period Of the growth Of tic crop. 1t
is the result Of a large supply Of ordi.
nary,manure that the first growth is
greatly stimulated, and the. stalk and
leaf become exceedingly luxuriant, but
this luxuriance is not continued to
the end Of the season, failing at the
very time that the seed is forming,
and The, most valuable product is to be
made. Hence the ears are not filled
out and the yield of grain is greatly
reduced. The large crops grown in
competition for premiums have all
been produced by system Of full
feeding, by which every ear is filed to
the tip.with full sized grains. It is
the vacant spaces on the ears -thatsso
reduce the yield, which might fully
one:foasths more if well filled out.
Alittle figuring will show how much
the -yieldsis increased by having all
the ears filed and the grain Of full
size. I have grown corn crops, an
average ear Of which has made a full
pint of :grain, and the largest has
yielded q quart. With two ears to
eachzhiA, land the hills three feet
apart each way, theears having only
onegpint. Of corn on an average, the
yield ViHbe over. $50 bushels to the the
acre.rsOne, ,of.-my crops made some,
thing over 125 bushels Of. grain per
acre, others have made a full hundred,
and several over go bushels, and the
average for years has heen. .Gover 80
bushels; but I never madessuoh large
crops by;thesuse of yard manure alone,
and only ~ means Of commercial fer
tilisers, while the largest yields have
alwayaheens made by, successive appli-
cations % sthef fertilizer. Under this
system NE whole. quantity Of. fertili-
gers applied have Been iderably
less than thatused in other large crops
which have been grown bygone appli-
cation only made at the planting.
This, doubtless,-is due to the loss
Of plant food by percolation through
the soil, during the. e.season Of growth.
But if the food had been applied to
the crop at intervals when it could be
taken up usefnlly BY the plants, the
crop would have had the whole benefit
Of it, and no loss would have occurred.
Thus if the fertilizers used had been
given at such intervals as the food is
most needed, and could be made i'm
mediately available, the crop would be
made the largest possible. This has
been found fully proved during nearly
twenty years experience, and the
game result tos-some.extent -hss.been
gained by frequent cultivation Of the
crop, which has the effect Of making
plant food in the soil more available,
but not to the full, extent as when the
cultivation had beensgiven with the
fertilizer. 3 = s>S.sS i
The periods Of growth at which this
successive feeding is needed, are when
the plant is about to show the tassel,
again when the silks appear, and again
when the grain ia filling. These are,
the times when the plant is appropria.
ting the most food, to enable it to
meet the heaviest call on the soil for
nutriment. The reproductive period
issalways such p time, this calls. foF
the exercise ofithe greatest vitality ia
the plant, which, in this case, Ger
|stainly may be believed to- be- in an
analogous condition to an animal at
the breeding season, when its vitality
needs to be most supported. And if
there is such an analogy between
plants and animals, then this is to be
considered in the feeding of the crops,
especially onepf such vigorous growth
as corn. SSssszs IT,
Believing this, then, my practice
has been to provide this needed stimu-
Inc in tho shane of 1C)(l nounds of fer.