46 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



cutting up and husking, - - 6.00 



interest on land, - - - 4.60 



Cost of growing, - - - - |50.00 



Cr. By 60 bushels corn, $1 per bushel, - $60.00 



1^ tons stover, $1Q dollars per ton, - 24.00 



half the manure and ashes charged to land, 11.75 



$95.75 



leaving a net profit of $45.75 per acre for crop and increased 

 value of the land for succeeding crops. 



As the manure is produced on the farm, hence the low- 

 price charged for it. 



That corn is a great exhauster of the land will be seen, 

 when we consider that the average in the United States is in- 

 creased from year to year, and the yield per acre continually 

 growing less. Few practical men but have noticed the light- 

 ness of succeeding crops after the removal of a good crop of 

 corn, and often a partial failure of grass seed to take root. 



One reason for this is to be found in the fact, that mag- 

 nesia, potash, and phosphoric acid, valuable elements of the 

 soil enter largely into the composition of this grain. 



By analysis it is shown that its nutritious qualities as food 

 for the human family are, when compared with wheat, as 77 

 to 95 ; that it is rich in oil which is easily converted into fat, 

 and in other elements which form the bone and muscle, 

 making it the best adapted for working oxen and horses ; and 

 for fattening cattle, swine, and slieep, it is unrivaled in value 

 by any other grain, besides furnishing a vast amount of mate- 

 rial for our internal trade and commerce. 



I have not the statistics from the Department of Agriculture 

 at hand from which to show the number of bushels of corn 

 raised in the United States the year preceding the time of 

 taking the last census^ its value, &c., the amount exported to 

 different parts of the world, nor can I give an approximate 

 estimate of the vast tonnage furnished by this cereal, and the 

 uses to which it is converted. 

 That " cotton is king" may be reasonably doubted when we 



