Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-05-08

There are ia tons Of water to an
inch of rainfall on an acre. 1t would
require mare thanss15 inches of rain
Hall tos pfoduc bus. of corn IsQn
Tan. dac1a.; During the period of corn
| grow III from Mays15 to Sept. Is we
seldom have any Where near that of
This brings us toithe most import
ant, if not the basis of corn growing
in this section.
The conservation, of moisture
the restoration of it in the soil so as
to be used by the plant as it needs
it during the growing season.
The first thing needed is a deep,
roomy and thoroughly fined seed bed,
full of organic matter which becomes
reservoir into which the water that
falls as rain will readily sink, in
which a large proportion will be held
for the use of the corn plant as the
season advances.
1t is we'll known fact that the
ability of the sell to absorb and re-
tain moisture depends on the fine
condition of the soil and the amount
of organic matter it contains. Or
ganis matter not only'acts as sponge
in absorbing and holding mois-
ture, but admits air into the soil and
through a process of decay frees
plant food and leaves it available for
the plant use. The tiny corn plant
require available food during the
early period of it's life. The element
that comes into the largest use at
this time is nitrogen. The latest
agricultural teaching is that nearly
all of the nitrogen used by the plant
is taken up in the form Of nitrates.
These nitrates are formed by the
bacterial action on the organic mat
ter of the soil.
These tiny forms of life whose
beneficient work we have only re-
Gently come to recognize play more
important part in agriculture than
most of US are willing to admit. The
farmers may save the wastes OF the
farm, thes traw, corn fodder butts,
work every thing through the stable
possible, scatter them over the fields
and plow them under, yet they are
worthless for the porduction of crops
until acted upon by these soil bac-
teria which are the labratory work
ars provided by nature to manufac-
sure plant food compounds out of the
food elements contained in these sub
stances.
I said before that one of the con-
ditions necessary to absorb and re
tain moisture is a deep and roomy
seed bed, which can be attained by
deep blowing and deep and thorough
tillage.
Or as good writer put it. Plants
require water and in dry season
must be fed to them from below by
capillary action. 1t the, seed bed is
deep and of good width, it acts as an
initial reservoir to receive and hold
the rains and melting SHOWS until
the. water can percolate into the
deeper sub-soils when it is stored for
future use.
The farmer may have thorough
drainage, a, soil such with all the food
elements in abundance, full of or
ganic matter, deeply plowed- and fine
lyTtilled, yet, the corn crop cannot be
a success with out good seed, strong
in vitality and suited to the condi-
tions of the climate in which it is to
be grown.
The value of bushel of seed corn
was shown in a variety test 3 years !
ago. In plat "a the seed was poor
and the replant failed to mature.
Plat 27 the seed was good and ma
tured a splendid crop. l will quote
from the paper read before the Arch
bold Institute. If we compare plat
"a with plat 27, only 16 rows away
from it we have for plat "a $40
worth of corn, for plat 27 1920
worth of corn, a difference of $3.50
fo1rr one acre. If there is difference
of $22.80 per acre, for z acres the
amount of land one. .bushel will plant,
there would be- z, / times $22.80 or
S159.5O, the value of one bushe1 of
good seed under these conditions.
1t is scarcely necessary to speak of
the Importance of good seed in this
The Corn Improvement
has shown by many ex-
periments the value, of it. It's worth
to the grower has been discussed in
every Grange, Cleaners Association
and Farmers Institutes, and in all !
these discussions it has been shown
that good seed properly selected and
cured is no less important than seedif
bed and fertilization in the produc-
ton of crop. And it is presumed
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