[SB 191 112 D4 Copy 1 CORN CULTURE BB /febif Methods Versu s O id Trtce One Dollar 'By WILLIAM G. DEARING LOl/J^VILLE, KENTX/CKy CORN CULTURE NEW METHODS VERSUS OLD By WILLIAM G. DEARING LOUISVILLE. KENTUCKY Louisville, Kentucky JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY INCORPORATED 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1913 By William G. Dearing ©CU332215 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. The Farm 5 II. The Corn Field 8 III. Drainage 10 IV. Origin of Soil 16 V. Litmus Paper and Testing Soil 19 VI. Green Manure 21 VII. Organic Matter 25 VIII. Crop Rotation 31 IX. Manure 38 X. Plowing 47 XI. Dinner and Canned Goods 51 XII. Seed Corn 56 XIII. Planting and Cultivation 68 XIV. Feeding the Plant 72 XV. Lime 75 XVI. Phosphorus 84 XVII. The Germ Theory and the State Fair 91 XVIII. Corn Raised per Acre — Mr. Whitney 's Theory of Soil Fertility 97 XIX. Education — Postscript to Letter 103 XX. Conclusion 104 CORN CULTURE CHAPTER I THE FARM About the middle of September, 1912, I was sitting on the veranda in the front of my house, looking at the beau- tiful landscape along the Ohio River, between the hills on the Kentucky side and the hills on the Indiana side. The house is on a small ridge in the center of four hundred acres of land, some ten miles from Louisville, Kentucky. In the distance could be seen the smoke hanging over the populous and energetic city, and the gentle Ohio, winding its course at the foot of the Indiana hills. The reddened leaves on the trees and the changing color of the corn, in- dicating that the year's work was nearly done, and the singing and twittering of the birds on a nearby beech, which broke the silence and serenity of the bright morning, all made the scene one not easily forgotten. On the south side of the farm the L., H. & St. L. Rail- way runs, and the St. Louis Limited, with its excellent train of Pullmans, had just passed; on the north side of the farm is the Illinois Central Railroad, and the Panama Express with its fine vestibuled train was just passing. A little distance beyond is the old Louisville & Nashville Turn- pike, along which the traffic from the Ohio River Crossings passed South before the days of railway transportation, and where now runs the interurban electric road, extending from Louisville to Orell. An interurban car could be seen for a distance of two and a half miles, and just as I was looking over the valley north, I saw the electric car coming down its road from Louisville and stop at Finley Station. A gentleman got off, and after talking with another gentleman standing near, he started in the direction of my home. He was soon near the house, and I saw it was my old friend Doc Saunders, who was a client of mine when I lived in the good old town of Flemingsburg. Doc com- 6 CORN CULTURE menced life a poor man, and being the possessor of a fine mind he soon was a successful trader, and is to-day a very wealthy man. It has been my pleasure to know a number of men, and to count them as my friends, and it has always been a great privilege to have known Mr. Saunders. As he approached, I left the veranda to meet him. ' ' How do you do, Doc? How are you, any way? This is indeed a great pleasure, and I am so glad to see you." Saunders. I am very well, Drenan, and I am as equal- ly glad to see you. You are looking well, and I am so glad, Will, to see you enjoying such good health. Drenan. Let us go to the house, where we can sit down and rest a little, and I know you will enjoy a good cold drink of water. I will call the hired boy, who can go down and pump some water. You know we have a natural gas well here, which furnishes the power to pump the water for the stock, the house, and the farm. Saunders. This is, indeed, a great convenience, and should add greatly to the value of your farm. I wish I had one on my farm in Fleming County. Drenan. I told the boy to pump a lot of water out, so you would have it pure and cold, and here he comes. You see this water percolates through the sand, and the bottom of the well is below the water in the Ohio River, and I be- lieve it is as pure as we can find. Saunders. It is indeed fine, and cold. What a great beverage! Water is the only drink fit for the human race. I cannot understand why any man would want beer, ale, or wliiskey, when he can get such water as this. Alcohol dead- ens the nerves, impairs the efficiency of the different organs, and is a curse to all who use it. Drenan. I see you are tlie same old Doc. You were al- ways a prohibitionist. As you have always had such a clear head, been so healthful and made such a success of life, I am not going to discuss prohibition with you. I expect I am as much of a crank on the subject as you are, and I don't believe there would be much chance to get up a dis- cussion on the subject. Of late years. Doc, I have become very much interested in scientific agriculture, and I want you to tell me of your successes on the farm, that I may profit by them. THE FARM 7 Saunders. I have heard of your success as a corn raiser and a renewer of soil fertility, and while I was in Louisville I thought I would come down to your farm and see your corn in the field and talk over old times with you, and learn what I could. Drenan. You pay me a high compliment, indeed, and I assure you I appreciate it very much, but I expect you Avill teach me more than I can tell you; nevertheless, we will talk over corn culture and many other things while you are here, and maybe we can be of mutual advantage. Saunders. ' Is this the field back of the house where it is said you have such a fine crop of corn? It certainly looks all right. Let us go out and look at it. CHAPTER II THE CORN FIELD Drenan. Yes, It contains eight acres, and I consider it a very fine piece of corn. We will take a walk through it, so you can see it on close inspection. Here is your hat, and we will go through the yard and out the gate nearest to it. You see the land is a sandy loam, and easily culti- vated. Saunders. Look here, Drenan, here is a stalk of corn with four big ears on it. This is out of the ordinary. Here is another with three. Why, look at the great number with two large ears on the stalk! I am surprised. When your foreman came to Fleming, and told of the great corn crop on your eight-acre field, I thought he was exaggerating some. Seeing, however, is believing. It is indeed wonder- ful. I don't understand how you could raise such a crop on this land. I saw it a year ago and I was not much im- pressed with it. The crop is extraordinary. Drenan. I am glad you think it so good. I want to show you something you never saw before. I have a won- der for you to see. It is a stalk of corn with eight ears on it, five are large ears and three are small. It is phenom- enal. It is on the north side of the field. I want you to see it. As we go, you can see what a fine crop of cow-peas I have in the corn. Saunders, These are fine cow-peas, and before I go home I want you to explain why you put cow-peas in your corn. Indeed, I want you to explain in detail how you raised this big crop of corn. Drenan. Here is the stalk with eight ears on it. You see the three largest ears are highest up. The fourth and fifth are not as large as the sixth, seventh, and eighth. The THE CORN FIELD 9 eighth ear is of good size. Nature has some way crossed herself. The stalk is a freak. I don't exactly understand it. Saunders. Who would have thought it? Look! the lowest ear is nearly as big as the top one. You have fine big ears on the stalk, and each is as large as the ordinary ear on corn. If a man had an acre like that he would raise at least three hundred bushels on it. My recollection of this field is that it was wet and cold, and I thought the probabilities of raising anything on it were remote. CHAPTER III DRAINAGE Drencm. This field was wet and cold when you saw it. I had just bought the place and had commenced to im- prove it. The first thing 1 did was to make two big ditches through the field so as to take off the water. The greater part of the field was wet and soggy. The ditches had stopped up, and the water could not go off. After making the two ditches, 1 made small transverse ditches so the water could lead off' at once. You would be surprised at the transformation of soil in one year. I consider good drainage one of the most important things in raising a bounteous crop. If water stands in the land for any length of time, the land is virtually ruined so far as the raising of a crop is concerned. Saunders. Why is this, as water is necessary in the raising of any crop 1 It looks as if the more water we have, the better crop we should raise, although I know cold, wet land will not produce anything. Drenan. You know that chemistry has enabled us to learn many things we did not know. Oxygen in the air is necessary for animal life, and it is also necessary for plant life. Oxidation is always going on in the interior during plant life, and the plant is continually consuming a small quantity of oxygen and throwing off a small quantity of carbonic acid gas. When plants have green leaves, they absorb carbonic acid gas and evolve oxygen. It is as much necessary for the plant to have oxygen as the human being. Put a human being below the water and he drowns; like- wise put an ordinary plant below the water and it dies. When you shut off free oxygen from reaching the plant roots, you strangle the plant and it dies. When water DRAINAGE 11 stands on soil and it becomes cold and wet, deoxidation is active, the nitrates present are destroyed, and most of the nitrogen passes off in gas. The soil will consequently suf- fer a considerable loss of plant food by lack of drainage. There can be no soil ventilation in cold, wet land, and be- fore any crop can be grown on it, it must be well drained. You can not revive a piece of worn-out land until it is thoroughly drained, either by surface ditches or tiles. The more ditches you have the better, it does not matter wheth- er the v^ater stands on it or not. There can be no danger in having too many. If they are surface ditches, they should be deep enough to have thorough drainage at once. This enables one to plow deep, to pulverize the soil, to con- serve the soil moisture, to promote soil ventilation, to en- courage the deep rooting of all plants, and to give the proper temperature to soil. Compact and cold soils are not conducive to plant growth. The plant roots cannot find room enough in which to grow. Saunders. Why, Drenan, you really surprise me with your full knowledge of agriculture. You talk like an old farmer. You are a lawyer, and I would like to know how and why you have become so interested. Drenan. Yes, it is true that I am a lawyer, and I make my living by practicing law. I once had a case for a rail- road involving the rates on phosphate rock from the Mt. Pleasant mines in Tennessee to the Ohio and Mississippi River Crossings. These rocks are taken from the mines to the different factories and are treated with acid and other ways and are then sold to the farmer as fertilizers. In the study of the case, I learned that these rocks had to be treated with sulphuric acid before the alum and the iron in these rocks became soluble so that plant life could reach the phosphate and potash in them. Alum and iron are very insoluble, and they are very hard to release from the rock. The rock is sold according to the percentage of alum and iron in them. If they have a large amount, the rock is al- most worthless. The smaller the amount of these, the bet- ter price the rock brings. I became very much interested, and this gave me a de- sire to make more investigations, and I have been keeping it up. I took a course of study in chemistry under Pro- 12 CORN CULTURE fessor Parks in the Manual Training School in Louisville. I made quite a number of experiments under him, and I have been able to experiment with the different elements and to know the effect of combinations. It was an inter- esting study, and has been of great service to me. When I use the word "oxidizing" or "deoxidizing," I know just what is meant. I do not see why all the common schools in the country do not have chemistry in all the grades, so that the knowledge of the subject would be thorough, full, and complete. Upon learning that sulphuric acid was used to release the alum and the iron in phosphate rock, I conceived the idea that there was some way that this acid could be made and used by plowing under a green crop of plant life. We will talk of this a little later, as I have some things to show you that will convince you that I know what I am talking about. I am so fully impressed with the importance of thorough drainage that I am going to tell you a little more about it. It takes lot of work to get a piece of cold, compact, and poorly drained land in proper condition to work. It has to be done late in the season, and is then very poorly done. Proper drainage prevents water standing in the low places on the farm, and will thus prevent the land from becoming sour, and, of course, unproductive. When we have plenty of drainage we can easily put the soil in perfect condition as to porosity, deepness, and pulverization, and these enable us to resist drouth as well as floods. When the soil is in good condition, made so by thorough drainage, as soon as the seed is put into the ground it takes deep root, and ob- tains more moisture and food, and is consequently a more finished product. I say again that you cannot reclaim a worn-out soil until you have perfect drainage, either sur- face or tiling. It is absolutely necessary, and it cannot be impressed too much upon any one desiring to obtain the best results. The ancients understood the importance of drainage, and practiced it. Marcus Porcius Cato died one hundred and forty-nine years before the Christian Era, and in his work, "De Re Rustica," he said, in regard to drainage, as follows : DRAINAGE 13 "If the land is wet, it should be drained with trough- shaped ditches dug three feet wide at the surface, and one foot at the bottom and four feet deep. Blind these ditches with rock. If you have no rock, then fill them with green willow poles braced crosswise. If you have no poles, fill them with fagots. Then dig lateral trenches three feet deep and four feet wide in such way that the water will flow from the trenches into the ditches. "In the winter, surface water should be drained off the fields. On hillsides courses should be kept clear for the water to flow off. During the rainy season at the begin- ning of autumn is the greatest risk from water. When it begins to rain all the hands should go out with picks and shovels and clear out the drains so that the water may flow oft' into the roads and the crops be protected." The old Roman Senator understood the importance of drainage and practiced it. He was anxious for all to know its worth, as well as other things which he wrote in his treatise. This was the first work on agriculture written in Latin, and indeed it is the first book written in that ver- nacular at all, and it has more than an antiquarian inter- est. The quotation which I have given you was taken from the translation made by Mr. Fairfax Harrison, a dignified Virginia farmer, and now President of the Monon Railroad. He is a scholarly and able man, and it would pay you to get the translation and read it. I tell you the ancients were not such big fools as we sometimes think them to be. Mr. Harrison says in his note on the book, page 13, in re- gard to some of their methods, as follows : "In fact, we are just beginning to learn again the value of some of the things Cato practiced. For example, he taught intense cultivation, the use of leguminous plants for soil improvement, the importance of live stock in a sys- tem of general farming, and the effective preservation of manure. Barring some developments of bacterial science like the ingenious 'nodular hypothesis' in respect to le- gumes, the student of farm management to-day could not go far wrong if he founded modern instances of agricul- tural experience upon the wise saws of this sturdy old heathen." 14 CORN CULTURE But I am digressing. Saunders, we were talking about drainage, and I am going to show you some of the reasons I think it so important. Let us take a walk over to the far side of the field, where we have not had the time to com- plete the ditches. Along here we have it well drained, and you see the fine condition of the land and the growth of the cow-peas. It is very luxuriant. Now here is the place where we have not drained at all. You see the land is heavy, it has no life in it, the color is bad. I do not believe it would raise five bushels of corn to the acre. Look over there at about three acres of land belonging to Mr. Finley. It is white, heavy, and useless. He has been digging a big drain and it will soon be completely drained, and then, in my opinion, it will be the best land on his farm. It will more than pay for itself the first year. There is no humus in it now, and what has been, has been leached out by water; the nitrogen and phosphorus are all gone. I would like for you to see it this time next year, and you would be more than surprised at the change, and the crop on it. Saunders. I see the importance of it sure, and it is best to have good drainage. In some lands, do you not have to have tiling? Dreyian. Yes. I owTied a farm once on Shepherds- ville Turnpike and it was level land and it was tiled. The land was very productive after it was tiled, and the possi- bilities of the place were indeed wonderful. If you have tiling, it is best to have a large main, and then have the laterals to come to it. I believe that all tiling should be open at both ends if possible and then have manholes in them at different places, so as to let the air in them. This will keep the tiling from filling up and will also give plenty of air to the soil, and this is very necessary. If you have a piece of land which has been run down and wish to build it up, be sure and tile it if possible the very first thing you do. Have your land surveyed topographically, and put in the main tiling where your laterals will have the greatest fall. Rain-water contains some ammonia and nitrogen, and they are carried down in soil and some of it is retained. If the water is permitted to stay in the ground any length of time, the nitrogen goes off in the form of gas. Some of it may remain, but the chances are that it will not, as you DRAINAGE 15 see in the three acres belonging to Mr. Finley, and the other land I have shown you. I tell you, Saunders, the study of the soil is a most fascinating study. Saunders. It is indeed, and I wish you would give me your ideas as to the origin of soil, and if I have anything to add I will gladly do so. CHAPTER IV ORIGIN OF SOIL Drenan. Geologists say that the earth was at one time a molten mass, and that it gradually cooled, and that the earth's surface was entirely covered by water. Owing to internal pressure, some parts of the crust of the earth emerged from the water, and the surface was at first igneous rocks, composed of silica and alumina, united with variable proportions of oxide of iron, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, and small quantities of other substances. Through the prolonged action of water, air, and frost, these rocks began to disintegrate and to pulverize, and later on, vegetable and animal life and their products affected same, and we have most of the soil of to-day. Some soils are derived directly from the decomposi- tion of the igneous rocks themselves, as in the case of soils derived from lava, basalt, and granite. I remember seeing some land in Canada, and in Ore- gon, which was pulverized lava, upon which vegetation grew luxuriantly. I remember also seeing one tree at Vic- toria growing upon a big rock without any soil to support. Of course the rock was in such a condition that the roots could get sustenance from it. Wherever soil exists to-day, is the result of the disin- tegration of this igneous rock through long geologic ages, deposited on the bottom of the sea, mingled and associated with the remains of vegetable and animal life. Owing to chemical action, these sedimentary deposits became rocks consisting either of sand, clay, or limestone, or a mixture of either of these in various states of condition or aggre- gation. The sand is the hardest and most resistant part of the ORIGIN OF SOIL 17 original rock, and is composed mostly of quartz, besides some felspar, mica, and other minerals. Clay is a hydrated silicate of aluminum. It is the re- sult of the chemical decomposition of potash or soda felspar. These are decomposed by prolonged action of water con- taining carbonic acid gas, and in the chemical action the alkalies and a part of the silica are removed, and clay re- mains. Clay has great tenacity and cementing power. This is owing to a small quantity of hydrated colloid (jelly- like) body, and according to chemistry it is not over 1.5, and remainder of the clay is made up of very fine solid particles. Lime rock was made from the igneous rock by having the lime and magnesia removed by solution and accumulat- ed in the ocean, and these were precipitated through the agency of vegetable and animal life. From these, sandstones, clays, and limestone — most all of our present soil — have been produced. The most powerful chemical factor in soil-making is carbonic acid gas. It is first present in the rain, and when this water enters soil containing vegetable matter it acts to a much greater extent. The solution of water with car- bonic acid gas dissolves the carbonates of lime and mag- nesium and they go off in the drainage water. With the aid of these carbonates, the solution also attacks undecom- posed silicates and removes some of the alkalies, salts, and some of the silica which they contain. When vegetation grows upon land, the chemical agents of decomposition gain in power, the carbonic acid gas is much increased, and they are assisted by humic and vitric acids, and together with the solvent action of plant roots, more soil is made. When this process has continued for ages, and has been undisturbed, it produces a surface soil rich in vegetable matter containing plant food in every available form. Saunders. From the looks of your farm, you have the sandy soil, the clay, and the limestone. Drenan. Yes. Where we are standing it is what you might call clay. There is scarcely any lime in it, and very little nitrogen. The soil is also what we might call sour. If we take a piece of litmus paper and put it in some of the 18 CORN CULTURE soil after it is moistened, the paper will turn red, showing that there is a great deal of acid in it. Before this soil will produce anything, the acidity must be corrected by an al- kali. So I will have to put some lime on it. Saunders. Let me see that piece of litmus paper. Where did you get it? CHAPTER V LITMUS PAPER AND TESTING SOIL Drenan. Litmus paper is of very delicate vegetable fiber. There are two kinds, red and blue, but we need only the blue. When an acid is put on same, it turns red, and when an alkali is put on it, it turns blue. You saw this pa- per turn red just a few moments ago. Here is some lime that I am going to put on the land. Now I am going to put some lime on this I have in my hand, so that you can see what influence it has on it. See how it turns blue. The lime has changed it from an acid to an alkali. Let us take some more earth, and not put too much lime in it. Here this litmus paper now is neither red nor blue. It is a neu- tral. You see it is rather a nice calculation to determine just how much lime to put on, and if it is burnt lime we must be very careful and not put too much. I can tell whether the land has any lime in it by taking some of the earth on a plate and pouring some hydrochloric acid on it. If it effervesces that shows it has lime in it. You have seen the foam on soda water. If this foam arises, we may know that it has some lime in it. If it does not, then we may know that there is no lime in it, and it should have some. If you will walk back to the corn field, I will show you some things about it. Most of the soil on this land is what we might call worn out. I have made inquiries from uy neighbors, and they tell me that for years and years tim- othy hay was raised and hauled to the market at Louisville and nothing brought back to it in the way of manures. The man who owned it thought it was so very fertile that it could never be exhausted. He did not keep it properly drained, and he carried away the fertility in loads of hay, and year by year it went down, until it no longer paid to 20 CORN CULTURE cultivate it. Before it is worth anything its fertility must be restored. There are so many worn-out farms. It would surprise you to see them. To restore them to such fertility as they might be useful is a great question and concerns every one. A person should hold his land in trust, so to speak, not only for himself but for future generations. When he mistreats it, he is robbing posterity. Samiders. You have my idea exactly. I do not know the different theories, and cannot talk scientifically about it, but I have always aimed to put more on my land than I take off. I do this in the form of manure. You know I am a trader, and feed quite a number of horses, and it has been my aim to keep my land improved. A man might as well starve his horse and expect hira to fatten, as to abuse his land and expect it to smile back. Drenan. There is an awakening among the people, and our leading citizens are becoming interested in soil restora- tion. The agricultural schools in the land are doing great work in helping to scientifically understand the subject and the best means to do so. Eminent men of science, states- men, and wealthy men are doing what they can to blaze the way for soil rejuvenation. It has become one of the big questions of the day. Any man who can show how to raise seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre on worn-out lan'd instead of twenty-five bushels, the average now raised in the United States, would be a great benefactor of the hu- man race. Some men gain imperishable fame by winning great battles, some leave "footprints on the sands of time" by herculean efforts in statecraft, but all citizens of our country and their posterity should gratefully remember the acts of the agricultural hero who teaches and shows how to make the barren desert groan with abundant crops, and the deserted, worn-out farm to again be the garden of plenty, and he is entitled to a monument which corroding time will not destroy. Here we are at the corn field, and I never become tired looking at it. Saunders. It is fine and all right — tell me something more that you did. CHAPTER VI GREEN MANURE Drenan. After the thorough draining that I gave the field, I jiad turned under all the vegetation that it had up- on it. It had grown up in broom sage, and was a sorry sight. This grass made a good coating of manure, and I had it disked several times, so as to have it pulverized as much as possible. It was then sown in rye, and the next spring, when the rye had gotten about waist high, it was turned under with a disk plow about nine inches deep. The ground was again disked and redisked several times. It was let alone for about two weeks, to let the rye thoroughly decompose, and was then disked twice. Before disking, about one thousand pounds of burnt lime to an acre was added. It w^as then planted in corn. Saunders. I know that turning under a green crop of manure helps the land under certain conditions; I wish you would give me your reasons for doing so. I know it adds fertility. Drenan. Chemists have analyzed the corn plant, and we know just what elements it contains. All known mat- ter is composed of from seventy to eighty elements. An element is incapable of further division, and is the simplest substance known. Now, corn is composed of thirteen ele- ments, namely, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, chlo- rine, potash, phosphorus, lime, magnesia, iron, sulphur, so- da, and silica. By the study of chemistry we learn of the characteristics of each. Mr. Vivian gives the analysis of the corn plant as follows: 22 CORN CULTURE Corn Plant, 1,000 lbs ----- Dry Matter, 207- fWa.er,793..{Hyd-.en,88_.l [Protein, 18 I Fat, 5 I Fiber, 50 Organic Matter, J Carbohydrates, 122 195 INitrogen, 2.9 Carbon, 90.5 Oxygen, 88.9 Hydrogen, 12.7 Chlorine, .4 Potash, 4 Phosphoric Acid, 1 . 2 Lime, 1 .6 Ash, 12 •[ Magnesia, 1.4 Iron Oxide, .3 Sulphuric Acid, .3 Soda, .4 Silica, 2.4 From this we see that hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon compose 98^ per cent of the whole. Potash, phosphorus, and nitrogen are three elements necessary to make good soil. Of these nitrogen is the most difficult to obtain, and the most costly. It has been said that "nitrogen promotes growth, phosphorus produces fruitfulness and early ma- turity, and potash increases quality." When a soil has these three elements, with proper cultivation it will pro- duce abundantly. We see also from the analysis of the corn that it has sulphuric acid, and this, of course, acts upon the hard par- ticles of rock in the soil, the same as it did on the phosphate rock I told you of. Saunders. Are there any hard particles of rock in a well-pulverized soil ? Drenan. Oh, yes. It would astonish you to take some of the very best pulverized soil we have, and put it under a microscope ; you will find small particles of rock. If it is sandy loam, it will be the quartz that I have mentioned. These hard rock have some of the elements of plant life in them, and when the sulphuric acid acts upon them they will become in such a condition that plant life can reach them. When soil is depleted by constant cultivation it lacks humus, organic matter, and nitrogen. It then becomes necessary to put these back, so that the soil will again pro- duce a good crop. GREEN MANURE 23 Saunders. How would you put these back? You say it takes humus, organic matter, and nitrogen. I would like to know what you mean. Drenan. When vegetation falls to the ground, and has become thoroughly rotted or decomposed, and becomes a part of the soil, it is what is called humus, otherwise it is the residue of decayed organic matter. It is what gives the black appearance to the land. Some soils are blacker than others, and this is because it has more humus in it. Organic matter is vegetable and animal matter incorporat- ed in the soil, like leaves, roots, manure, etc. When this organic matter passes the different stages of decomposition and is fully decayed, it becomes humus. I see over here an old fence-row. It is very fertile. I remember when a boy that my father always cleaned out an old fence-row and would make his tobacco bed in it, because it was the best land on the place. I thought at the time it was because it had rested a long time, and that it had regained its orig- inal fertility. What had really happened, weeds and bushes had grown up, and the roots had opened up the soil and caused the air to reach it and supply it with oxygen, and the fence and the weeds and bushes had caught the leaves and other vegetable life and held them to the fence- row, where they decaj^ed and become fully incorporatd in the soil as humus. By humus being repeatedly added to the soil it became richer and richer, until it was really the richest place on the farm. Now what Nature has done for the fence-row, we can do for the whole farm. A part of the nitrogen is added to the soil by the de- cayed vegetable or animal matter, and the other is taken from the atmosphere through the work of soil bacteria which make their homes in the root nodules of nitrogen- gathering plants, and which draw the nitrogen from the air and deposit it on the nodules on the roots, and it thus be- comes available for plant food. The roots of trees also gather nitrogen and store it in the ground. Clover, cow- peas, and vetch are some of the plants that draw nitrogen from the air and put it on the root nodules as I have men- tioned. For centuries Nature had been storing in this great country of ours plenty of humus and all other elements 24 CORN CULTURE necessary to raise abundant crops, and when our fore- fathers cleared the forest they found the soil rich in humus and with untold millions of friendly bacteria working and ready for centuries more of work. Our forefathers thought the soil inexhaustible, and year after year they continued to cultivate, taking all they could off and returning noth- ing, abusing the soil in many ways and slaying in ruthless manner the great army of bacterial friends, until now we find the work of destruction so well done that we find it almost impossible to rebuild this mighty fabric. However hard is the task, it can and must be done, and my predic- tion is that it will come sooner than we expect. CHAPTER VII ORGANIC MATTER Saunders. You have given me your ideas about humus, but you have not told me much about organic matter. I believe you said that depleted soils needed humus, organic matter, and nitrogen. I understand what you mean by humus and also by organic matter. I have always believed that organic matter was more needed in soil than anything else. When I put plenty of good fresh manure and plenty of straw on land, I raise a good crop of corn. When this is not done, I do not raise as good a crop. This shows me that organic matter is very essential. Drenan. Organic matter is indeed very necessary. Or- ganic matter in time becomes humus. Let us go over to the new piece of land which I have recently had cleared, and if we go, we will find the land rich in humus and also full of organic matter. The leaves have fallen on the land for hundreds of years, and the trees have fallen and the roots have rotted, and the soil contains a large amount of or- ganic matter. The great army of bacteria have done their work well; they have brought nitrogen from the air and deposited it in the soil, and all that is needed now to raise an immense crop is proper cultivation. It is very neces- sary to have a good supply of moisture to raise a large crop. You know in some places they plow the land deep and pulverize it as much as possible, to prevent evapora- tion. The land is stirred often during the summer, and this conserves the moisture. Now, if land is full of organic matter, it will hold more moisture. It has been said that a pound of soil with organic matter will hold three times as much water as a pound of clay soil, and will retain it twice as long. This same soil will also contain five times as much 26 CORN CULTURE water as the same amount of soil of sand, and will also retain it five times as long. We cannot get too much or- ganic matter into land. Bacteria cannot live on the min- erals in the soil. They must have organic matter. As I have said, they reach their highest development in virgin soil. Scientists say, and I believe it is so, that these bac- teria are necessary for putting the soil in proper condition for plant growth. In some way they cleanse the soil, and put it in proper condition for plant life. These little work- ers must have organic matter upon which to live. From this you see that I believe it is very necessary to put into the soil plant life, or organic matter. In my opinion, you can never maintain soil fertility unless you turn under some green crop. You see that forty-acre field on the north- west side of the farm. Last year I let it grow up with wild grass, and it made a dense mat over the whole field. I an- ticipated that the ground would be very nrach benefited by turning under this coating of grass. I put the man to plowing it, and left for the city, and upon my return I was amazed to find that he had plowed a few furrows around the field and had then set fire to the grass and had burned it all. I was mad and felt that he should be treated the same way. The only excuse he gave was that it was easier to plow. I am satisfied that there was at least ten dollars' worth of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash to the acre, and all of this w^ent up in smoke. There is simply no excuse for such wanton negligence. Here was a loss of at least five hundred dollars, and besides the land lost the addition of tons of fertility. Saunders. You said something a little while ago about some crops peculiarly suited for gathering nitrogen from the air and storing it away on the nodules in the roots; I have always understood that rye was about the best crop to turn under, and I understand from you that rye does not gather these bacteria on the rootlets. I believe that rye is an extra good crop to turn under. I have turned this under and found that I had good results. Drenan. There are two kinds of crops that are useful to turn under. One class adds nothing directly to the soil, and the other does add nitrogen to it. To the first class be- long rye, rape, and buckwheat, and to the second class be- ORGANIC MATTER 27 long cow-peas, clover, vetch, and beans. The first class has the power of reaching out and collecting from the soil ele- ments that are needed, and when the roots are turned un- der and decay, the soil is more suitable for the succeeding crop. When a crop of rye is turned under it adds potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen to the soil. Chemists say that in a ton of green rye there are eleven pounds of nitro- gen, four and a half pounds of phosphoric acid, and twelve and a half pounds of potash, and it also contains the other elements ; and that it produces nitric and carbon- ic acids, and these act upon the soil in the way I have men- tioned. It will produce from five to ten tons to the acre, and you can see at a glance its great value as manure. It is sown and raised at a time of the year when the land is not occupied with other crops. Some writers say that it is better in the long run than manure. My experience is that when I have turned under rye, and then disked and fol- lowed with a drag harrow, that I have gotten better results than where it was not turned under. Last year I made a mistake and let the hogs eat it, and I did not have as much rye to turn under as there should have been. Saunders. Rye is great for the land. I believe people make a mistake in sowing it too late. It should be sowed soon enough to get a good root before winter. By the first of December the field should be covered completely, and look green and healthful. Drenan. I know you are right. The more roots it has and the longer they are, the more organic matter you will put in the land. By all means never make the mistake I did last year of grazing it in the spring. Let it grow until you get ready to turn it under. It should be turned under so that none of the rye will show, and it should be disked and harrowed well, and the soil at the top should be pul- verized as much as possible, and if it could be rolled it would be all the better, so as to prevent the escape of the gases and to make as much of the acids as possible. The r3^e will soon decompose, and you have a lot of organic matter to feed the bacteria in the ground, and for supply- ing future crops with the necessary maintenance. One of my neighbors told me last year not to turn under the rye — that it would sour the soil, and that I would not 28 CORN CULTURE be able to raise anything. I told him that I had drained the land extra well, and that I did not anticipate any dan- ger from that source. What rye I did turn under aided and assisted, as you see the good crop of corn. I am very enthusiastic about turning under rye, and I believe it will do as much good as anything you can do. I have had much experience with rye, and I have turned under a lot of it and I can safely say that if your land is well drained you need have no fear of it becoming sour. If you turn under a crop of rye, and the land becomes sour, you can depend upon it that the land is not properly drained, and that you had better look after it. I would like to impress upon everybody the importance and necessity of good drainage. Rye is a fine crop to help bring back a worn-out soil to fer- tility. It costs but little to put it in, it grows rank, and when properly turned under it will aid and assist in hold- ing the moisture. Saunders. I see you have a lot of cow-peas on the place, and I suppose you are a great believer in them. - Drenan. Yes. You see I have peas planted every place I could find a place to put them. Cow-peas draw nitrogen from the air and store it on the rootlets. I have the corn field sowed in cow-peas and I have the field in the front sowed in cow-peas alone. I am going to turn all of them under. Come out here and we will pull up some cow-peas so you can see the roots. Look at this one; it has some large nodules on it. Analysis shows that these contain in- numerable bacteria, and that these bacteria can obtain the nitrogen from the air. The cow-peas, with the assistance of these bacteria, get nitrogen from the air instead of pro- curing the same from the nitrates in the soil. If the soil is in such condition these bacteria cannot live or do work, the plant will get its supply of nitrogen from the soil, and the nitrogen contents of the soil will therefore be dimin- ished to a certain extent. My observation of the cow- peas, red clover, and vetch is that they will obtain most of their nitrogen from the air, and they are for this reason fine crops for the land. If you are going to turn under any of these crops, you should turn them under while green. They should not be permitted to mature. There is more nitrogen in the green crop than in the ripe one. The no- ORGANIC MATTER 29 diiles seem to get smaller as the crop matures, and if your aim is to put all the nitrogen in the land that you can, then it is better to turn under while it is green and just before maturity begins. I fully believe that if a person would take a worn-out piece of land and plow and subsoil well, put on ground limestone, and then put in cow-peas in the spring and turn under in August, and in September put in rye, and in the spring turn under, I am sure a good crop of corn could be raised upon the same that year. If the same process was repeated the second year, I have no doubt as to the next year's crop. It would be a good-sized one, and would perhaps pay for all the trouble. Saunders. This may be all right, but most men are not able to let their land go idle that long, and to bear this ex- tra expense. Drenan. Yes, that is true, but they can sow a catch crop and aid and assist in keeping the land in good condi- tion. Suppose a man has ten acres of corn, he can very easily sow cow-peas in it at the last plowing, as I did this corn field behind the house, and when the corn is gathered, plow it under. If wheat is raised, as soon as it is gathered the ground can be broken up and sowed in cow-peas, and when they come to enough growi:h, be turned and make a good coating. You will not only get an extra amount of humus, but you will aerate the land, and the air will also aid and assist to keep the soil balanced anyway. Going back to what I have repeatedly said about drainage and tiling and plowing, I want to say that they put the ground in ideal condition for the decomposition of organic matter and increase the amount of food available for the crop, but at the same time they do an injury to the soil which should be repaired. A Minnesota bulletin gives the loss of nitrogen and hu- mus from soil in twenty-three years' cultivation. It is as follows : LOSS OF NITROGEN AND HUMUS FROM SOIL. Native Cultivated Soil 23 Years Total humus 3.97 2.59 Total nitrogen 0.36 0.19 Capacity to hold water 62.00 54.00 30 CORN CULTURE From this we see that it is best to get busy and renew the nitrogen and humus, and all other elements that may be exhausted or diminished, and as manure cannot be gotten in sufficient quantity, the next best thing to do is to turn under green manure. In fact, I believe it is as good if not better in the long run. Of course, manure is good if it can be gotten, but the problem is to get it in sufficient quantity. Saunders, I have not heard you say a word about crop rotation. I consider this very important, and I have been taught that the rotation of crops will renew the fertility. I have practiced this in my farming, and I find that it pays. CHAPTER VIII CROP ROTATION Drenan. I believe in rotation of crops and have al- ways practiced it. It evidently increases the yield, but does rotation of crops alone increase fertility? The Agri- cultural Department at Washington seems to think it will. The Department contends that when a crop is raised con- tinuously on one piece of land, that the excreta from the roots of the plant will poison the ground, and thus prevent or check the growth of the same crop or plant. This has also been the theory of a number of scientific men. They contend that plants have excreta as human beings — that as excreta of the human being is poisonous to human life, likewise is the excreta of the plant poisonous to the same plant. They contend that there is no such thing as soil exhaustion — that it is nothing more than soil poisoning. The Department contends that crop rotation will remedy the evils. Somehow or other I cannot believe it. I am not an expert or scientific agriculturist. I have read and studied a great deal on the subject, but I cannot believe tliis excreta theory. It seems to me to be too finespun and farfetched. Rotation of crops has been practiced for hun- dreds of years. No doubt it was at first accidentally dis- covered, perhaps at first by cultivating the land without raising any crop, and it was discovered that it was good, then perhaps commenced the practice of rotation of differ- ent crops for three years and for four years. Rotation of crops, however, does increase the yield. The Rothamsted Experiment Station in England has kept an accurate ac- count of the different experiments, and it has tried all kinds. This is the data furnished by this station: 32 CORN CULTURE EFFECT OF ROTATION ON CROP PRODUCTION— AVERAGE OF EIGHT COURSES, THIRTY-TWO YEARS. Grown continuously. In rotation Bushels per Acre. Barley Wheat 18 12 32 26 This evidently shows that rotation increases yield, and hence we cannot help but come to the conclusion that rota- tion is necessary. Somehow or other that excreta theory upsets me. It does not look reasonable. I know that the roots of corn are diUCerent from those of wheat ; the root of the alfalfa is different from the root of rye. Some roots go deep into the ground and get their sustenance from the lower surface; some roots are maintained near the surface. The chemical elements are in different proportions in dif- ferent plants. As deep-rooted plants get their food deep in the ground, they perhaps bring up food near the sur- face which is not consumed, and it thus helps the next crop, provided the next crop is a shallow-rooted plant. It is well known by every one that shallow-rooted plants do better if they follow after the deep-rooted plants. When one crop is grown continuously on a piece of ground, I have no doubt but that plant diseases peculiar to that plant exist and thrive. Plant diseases are caused by bacteria or other fungi living on that plant. The dis- ease is usually limited to that genus of plant. Take the fungus growth on corn, it will not grow on the cabbage, and what will grow and make a disease on cabbage will not do so on the bean. AA^hen a crop is continuously grown year after year, the disease will be carried over and is given every opportunity to exist. When the crop is ro- tated, there is less liability to carry over this disease. When you grow one crop continuously, there will be certain weeds come up that will not be killed by the cultivation necessary to raise that crop. In rotation, we can have different methods of cultivating, and tliis will kill the different weeds. Saunders. I see from what you say that you believe in rotation of crops, but you believe a shallow-rooted plant should follow a deep-rooted one. I have always practiced rotation of crops, and I never gave a thought as to the kind CROP ROTATION 33 oi' rotation it should be. I see at once the necessity of giv- ing more thought and attention to the matter. I wish you would reiterate your ideas and give me the kind of rotation there should be. Drenan. Red clover, rape, wheat, corn, and rye are deep rooted, and they have great power of obtaining ash constituents from the lower soils. Potatoes, turnips, beans, peas, and onions are shallow rooted, and they get their sub- sistence from the surface soil. The deep-rooted plant makes the subsoil contribute to general fertility. The air goes deeper and the soil is better aerated, pulverizing goes on better, and the different elements are let go, so to speak. Saunders. "What I want to know is whether you would have two, three, or four year rotation, and what w^ould you put in each year? Drenan. Corn is a very deep-rooted plant, and if the subsoil is in proper condition it will go down some distance. I would have corn say the first year. In the fall I would disk the corn field with the stalks on it. I would turn it under and sow in rye. In the spring, about the middle of April, I would plow this rye under and pulverize the soil at first with a drag harrow, doing this to keep in the gases. AVhen the rye was decomposed I would disk each way, and put it in as good condition as I could. About the last of IMay or the first of June I would sow in cow-peas, and when harvested I would sow in wheat, and in the spring I would sow in clover. In this way one can preserve the nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid, and get four good crops. He would harvest a crop each year. I would plow under the clover after I harvested the first growth of clover. I would let it grow, after cutting it the first time, until it was be- ginning to head out before plowing under. It should be plowed under while green, as it has more nitrogen at that time. The rotation then would be four years — cornf cow-peas, wheat, and clover. If this method is practiced I have no doubt but that fertility could be maintained and the amount of crops very much increased. If a person wanted to change and have different crops, he could do so. I am going to give you a list of some plants, and the weight and average composition in pounds per acre, and it might be of some use to you. They are as follows: 34 CORN CULTURE 1 02 o CO Cl 00 00 CO OT TfH CO 10 BDIJlg o CO ^ 00 03 10 10 0: Oi '"' »o CO 1—1 CO 00 to ^ -* 10 iC CO r-H 10 ^ CO (M Pi o < auuoiqo d ci o ■^ >o PLH O n CO lO GO 00 05 r^ i-H I— 1 \n 00 CO qsB^Od^ J2 Ci C5 00 C3 10 »o 05 t^ CO C5 CO S (M (M CO CO - rH 00 01 (M ^ (N 00 00 1— 1 jnqding £ d lO t^ oi CO CO CO '^ 06 ^ Q o n33oj^if.j to CO 10 10 CO ■rt< C5 CO 00 10 00 (M »o ^ n o (N (N CO 1-H t- y^ j—i (M 05 1-H qey SJnj £ CO TjH t^ 'SH r—t lO »o -> CO 10 00 '^ 00 (M o GO Tt^ (M Ol CO (M 00 00 o ^ ^ ^- co" 0= 10 00 00 CO c 1 < 1 Q ! ^ ' 1 < to 1 CO o to _o o CO to 3 ■<4< -2 03 0) 3 5R C bC e3 CJ i H ^ c3 i- CO Eh < +J -tJ bC -fi -|J +j m H J H aa H H < <; ^ CROP ROTATION 35 05 o TtH C5 CO CO I— 1 t^ ^ CO t^ «3!1!S £ CO t- O CO i> CM \n t^ CO CO CO CO 00 1—1 CO ^ 05 CM ^ GO CO ^ antiono ■2 •*' a> -^ '^ iC o m; ?^ CO 00 lO PPV CO CT> 00 CO ^ Tt< t^ r-\ Ci 00 t^ ouoqd - * 1^ •* ■* C5 CO CM t^ Ol CD CM 00 jnqdjng £ o 05 •*' ■* CJ «d id o CM ■*' CO r^ n8 3oj:>i^ 03 03 00 05 00 C5 CM § .—1 CO ^ o o 00 CM 00 C5 C<3 00 00 <35 t^ QO CO ^ CO lO 00 02 o lO lO O) lO ■* CO CO t^ CO IB^ox (M (M CM CO >-H CM Q, IM CO CO 00 ^ CD ^^ t^ 05 CD lO O >> CM CO '^ CD CM CO s Tt< O lO U Q -Q oc t^ o 00 ^ lO CO t^ o "o (N CO .^ '"' CO CO ^ TjH CO ■^ ■4J ^ O o o o o o MH s o >* '^ bO CO OO CM ^ CD 00 CM CD o CO <^ n ^ Oi CM o ■* IC t^ o ^ a so" Tt<~ --" cm" ^~ oo" CO ^ CO ^" CD" CO 03 03 \ ! o 03 I a o +3 +3 43 03 C o o HM {H 1> << O r-H CO c" ■rf o o o o o o 2, o ^ o bC 03 j3 m c3 ^ 03 ij -u -k9 o o < o 02 O H^ o H O H Q < « a § H a & & tf CQ H CO 36 CORN CULTURE Pi o < Pi H CO P O CO O P5 O !>^ P5 Q O o o CO O o o o Q H w o I— I I w Boins lbs. 8.7 9.2 CO 2.2 53.9 CO lO 2.9 44.3 »o CO d lo CO d anijo^qo — ^ -^ -^ CO 00 -* PPV ouoqd ■ -soqj . Th to CO J2 O CO — ' CO .-H Oi lO lO oq lO CO T-H CJ 00 d CO t^ ,-1 lO o O CO 1— 1 CO CO BtS8u3T!J\[ . CO (M lO CO CO CO d CO 00 (M ,-H d o GO lO CO .-I '^ 00 lO amii • o o CO 1—1 .-H CO o d 00' 00 ^ CO CO O GO d d 00 lO 0-1 BpOg • '^ CO a; — ' CD '^ 00 00 CO