288 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



we shelled them. Aline shelled twenty ounces, and his shelled 

 twenty- four ; since then I have not carried any ears with me. 



About planting this corn, we plant ours in rows three and 

 one-half feet apart, and three feet apart in the row, with two 

 stalks to the hill, as nearly as we can. It looks tO' me, coming 

 through the country, that you plant a little too thick. When 

 you plant corn at the rate I have stated you have about 8,290 

 stalks to the acre. Now, suppose that each of those stalks of 

 the Lancaster county farmer had produced an ear which shelled- 

 24 ounces of corn. How much shelled corn would that fellow 

 have had to the acre? About 222 bushels. We have tried 

 hard to eliminate the barren stalk, and have done something. 

 We have a farmer wdio, on ,a field of 20 acres, averaged no 

 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. That man has worked 

 along exactly the same lines I have indicated. 



Regarding the different shape of the kernels. If the stalk 

 has strong foliage and color, broad leaves and strong roots, 

 you usually get corn with good kernels. Over in Pennsylvania, 

 in Potter couinty, I came across a man who has been develop- 

 ing the flint varieties of corn which would invariably produce 

 two ears to the stalk, ten or eleven inches long. That fellow, 

 by his development, raised a larger quantity of shelled corn to 

 the acre than we average in Southern Pennsylvania. I believe 

 you can devdop such a type of com, whidi will ripen within 

 the limits of your season. I am not acquainted with your con- 

 ditions, but I believe it can be done, by the young fellows. I 

 have not much hope of the old fellows, but I have a lot of hope 

 for the boys who are going to be the men who will produce 

 the stuff by and by, if they have tlie right kind of training. 



