COST OF A BUSHEL OF CORN. 127 



somewhat of an enthusiast, perhaps a little wild, on that 

 subject. I have given it thought and study, and have tried 

 some eight or ten experiments in raising corn, and I have 

 come to the conclusion that we in New Hampshire can raise 

 corn ; and I tell the farmers there that we can beat the West. 

 The time is coming, before many years, if we keep on in the 

 progress we have made, when we shall have corn for expor- 

 tation. When we commenced on the subject of raising corn, 

 we were paying out about three millions of dollars annually 

 for corn alone. Now, the question came to my mind, Where 

 does New Hampshire get the three and a half millions to 

 pay the West every year ? I found that the proceeds of our 

 timber and of our farm crops were going West to build them 

 up, to our destruction. But I think we have turned the tide. 

 That is my opinion, from the fact that there is a large amount 

 of corn now raised in the State. In the city of Concord I 

 can put my hand on one man who raises twenty-five acres ; 

 another, ten ; another, five ; and they all raise it at a less cost 

 than I can. I raise mine for thirt3'-three cents a bushel, — 

 six hundred bushels. My neighbor Mr. Walker, who raised 

 about the same amount, goes considerably under me. A 

 gentleman in Pembroke, a very reliable man and a good 

 farmer, had twenty-four acres, and he tells me it cost him a 

 great deal less than that. He got a hundred and seven 

 bushels on one acre. He is a very reliable gentleman, one 

 of our county commissioners, and I think his statement may 

 be taken as correct. I raised a little over nine acres this 

 year, averaging sixty bushels to the acre. I could have got 

 more than that; but I thought that was about the point 

 where it was most profitable. For instance, I have put four 

 acres on barnyard-manure and four acres on the Stockbridge 

 fertilizer, side by side, testing them to know which was the 

 best. The barnj'-ard-manure was of the same value precisely 

 as the Stockbridge, reckoning the manure, twenty cords, at 

 six dollars a cord on the land. I found the results about 

 the same. I have tried that experiment for two years. 



My crop, as I say, cost me thirty-three cents a bushel. In 

 making up that amount, I want you to understand that I 

 charge interest on the land, I charge all the taxes, I charge 

 for every day and every hour of labor upon the land, and 

 I give credit for the fodder or stover at so much per acre 



