led corn per acre."

"Exactly, and I think most farmers would tell you the same; you get
twice as much corn and stalks to the acre as you would of wheat and
straw. In other words, while the wheat cannot find more nitrogen than is
necessary to produce 15 bushels of wheat and straw, the corn can find,
and does find, take up, and organize, at least twice as much nitrogen as
the wheat."

If these are facts, then the remarks we have made in regard to the value
of clover as a fertilizing crop, are applicable in some degree to Indian
corn. To grow clover and sell it, will in the end impoverish the soil;
to grow clover and feed it out, will enrich the land. And the same will
be true of Indian corn. It will gather up nitrogen that the wheat-crop
can not appropriate; and when the corn and stalks are fed out, some 90
per cent of the nitrogen will be left in the manure.

"You do not think, then," said the Doctor, "that nitrogen is such an
important element in manure for corn, as it is in a manure for wheat."

I have not said that. If we want a large crop of corn, we shall usually
need a liberal supply of available nitrogen. But this is because a
larger crop of corn means a much larger produce per acre, than a large
crop of wheat. Forty bushels of wheat per acre is an unusually large
crop with us; but 80 bushels of shelled corn can be grown in a favorable
season, and on rich, well-cultivated land. As the Deacon has said, 30
bushels of corn per acre can be grown as easily as 15 bushels of wheat;
and it is quite probable, in many cases, that a manure containing no
nitrogen, might give us a crop of 35 or 40 bushels per acre. In other
words, up to a certain point, manures containing mineral, or
carbonaceous matter, might frequently, in ordinary agriculture, increase
the yield of Indian corn; while on similar land, such manures would have
little effect on wheat.

"That is so," said the Deacon, "we all know that plaster frequently
increases the growth of corn, while it seldom does much good on wheat."

But, after you have got as large a crop as the land will produce, aided
by plaster, ashes, and superphosphate, say 40 bushels of shelled corn
per acre, _then_ if you want to raise 70 bushels per acre, you must
furnish the soil with manures containing sufficient available nitrogen.

Some years ago, I made some careful experiments with artificial manures
on Indian corn.

"Oh, yes," said the Deacon, "they were made on the south lot,