HOW TO GROW CORN. 105 



[Statement of A. L. Covington of Middleborougli.] 



Mr. Covington's corn was grown on a light sandy or grav- 

 elly soil which has been in grass for fifteen years or more, 

 producing hardly enough to be worth mowing. It was 

 ploughed ibout six inches deep last fall, and again this 

 spring, turning under four hundred pounds of guano. Two 

 hundred pounds more were spread on the surface, and har- 

 rowed in, after which the land was bushed and furrowed one 

 way, three feet and a half apart. May 10, planted in hills 

 two feet and a half apart, using seven quarts of the Whit- 

 man corn, and putting three kernels in the hill. Cultivated 

 and hoed twice. The stalks were cut and shocked about the 

 first of September. Cut up and got in the corn the fore part 

 of October. The entire crop weighed in the ear thirty-five 

 hundred pounds and one-fourth, two hundred and eleven 

 pounds of which was pig-corn. Mr. Covington estimates the 

 fodder at about eight dollars. 



[statement of John Lane of East Bridgewater.] 



The land on which my corn, entered for premium, grew, is 

 a strong, moist black loam, with a clay subsoil. It has been 

 in grass for several years, and a part of it was dressed with 

 manure last year. Last fall it was ploughed seven inches 

 deep. I hauled out manure in the winter, and in the spring 

 spread broadcast twenty-four loads, of thirt}^ bushels each, 

 of good stable-manure, and harrowed it in with a Randall 

 harrow. It was planted May 15 with yellow corn, four 

 kernels in a hill. No dressing was applied in the hill. It 

 was ploughed once between the rows, cultivated once, and 

 hoed twice. I cut up and shocked, Sept. 25, all but two 

 rods selected by the supervisor as an average. Oct. 11 

 those two rods were harvested and weighed, yielding at the 

 rate of 88|^ bushels to the acre. I think the fodder worth 

 twelve dollars ; manure unused, fifteen dollars. The ex- 

 penses of ploughing, harrowing, and furrowing, were six 

 dollars and a half; manure used by the crop, twenty-seven 

 dollars ; seed and planting, three dollars and a half ; cost 

 of cultivation, six dollars ; harvesting, eight dollars ; total, 

 fifty-one dollars. 14 



