14G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



before roniarkoil. corn is ;i heu\_v oi- ;,m'oss fecilor, hence it will a'lrnit of no 

 opposition. It (leinunds and nui.st liave the undisputed occupancy of the field. 



And now that the warmth of June has brought the tender and beautiful 

 blade to the light to drink from the warm humid atmosphere what cannot be 

 fed by the soil through too tender rootlets, it is obvious that if left to itself it 

 will be overrun and choked out by the foul and noxious weeds that infest even 

 the best of farms. So now boys, the battle must begin in earnest. Constant, 

 unceasing warfare must be waged and no quarter must be given these enemies 

 of the corn crop until it is full grown and well matured. For the first and 

 second working all that is required is to lightly stir the surface as that will be 

 sufficient to destroy the weeds that are germinating. 



For this purpose, ^;er/<f/;j*', the riding cultivator is as good an implement as 

 any. But for future work, wlien it becomes essential to do good and thorough 

 work, to work close to the corn and stir the earth deeply, its use must be 

 abandoned for a more perfect tool. I know that the boys and young men 

 here will not agree with me in this position. It is so much easier to ride than 

 walk, they say. Besides, it is more genteel, and is up with the times, they tell 

 me, and is entirely too old fogy for them, all of which is plausible enough, for 

 I am in favor of making the work on the farm as easy and pleasant as possible 

 where it does not affect injuriously the results. 



For good, thorough work, we have no implement now in use that will begin 

 to compare with the common double-shovel plow, at least after the second 

 working. 



As 1 expect to be criticised on this point I shall expect, gentlemen, to be 

 prepared to answer a few questions based upon the statistics, which are com- 

 piled and on file in the office of the Secretary of State, to wit : Why is the 

 average per acre steadily decreasing? Why do we produce from four to 

 fiive bushels less per acre than we did twenty years ago when our fields were 

 filled with stumps and stones? and why does the production decrease in just 

 about the ratio that the use of the cultivator increases? 



There can be but the one answer: The implement is defective; and however 

 useful it may be on the farm, it is not adapted to ''corn culture." 



But the fatal mistake made by most corn raisers, the error of errors, the 

 crowning act of folly, and the blunder that robs us of at least a third of the 

 results of a long season's labor, is ceasing to cultivate at the very time when 

 the crop requires the greatest attention. 



From the first to the middle of July the growing corn is in the most critical 

 period of its existence. It is then beginning to bring to the light those majes- 

 tic tasseled plumes which, waved by the summer's breeze, are to fertilize 

 through that mass of silken threads, beueath the embryo corn soon to appear 

 on the tender stalk ; every power and function of the plant is now taxed to its 

 fullest capacity. It needs all the assistance now that nature, art, and muscle 

 combined can give it. To abandon it now is folly in the extreme. It is worse 

 than folly — it is almost criminal. The work of cultivation should never cease 

 until the stock is fully matured and well fortified against the long drouth that 

 almost always begins about this time in the year. Better by far will it be to 

 keep the boys in the corn field through July, even at harvest wages, than to 

 permit the weeds to rob you of the rewards of your labor, or the drouth to dry 

 up and wither the hitherto luxuriant crop. 



And now, farmers of Berrien county, I am not vain enough to suppose that 

 I have so fully and clearly established every position taken as to cause you all 



