THE GROWING OF CORN. 93 



the greater number of stalks. A good average day's work in 

 stooking from drills is about half an acre a day per man, or, 

 as two men must work together for the most economy, an 

 acre a day for two men ; but the amount of work varies con- 

 siderably in different fields and under varied circumstances. 



HUSKING. 



The cost of husking is quite a tax upon the farmer. With 

 our Eastern corn thirty bushels of ears a day must be consid- 

 ered a good day's work. This labor can, however, be often 

 done by children, women, and incapables, or, in other words, 

 by those who cannot earn a full day's wages at other woi'k. 

 I find it preferable to husk from the stook in the field, and 

 each afternoon to bin the corn husked during the day, and 

 to store away the stover. From eight to ten cents a bushel 

 of shelled corn is a fair estimate of the cost at present for the 

 grain, and about a day's labor for three men and two horses 

 per acre to take care of the stover and binning. 



CKOWS. 



A word now on the bird enemies. The crow in the 

 spring is a veritable nuisance. He must be kept off by 

 the use of various scarecrows, of which the best seems to be 

 a dead crow suspended from the summit of a sloping stick. 

 Some people find advantage in rolling the seed in tar, and 

 then dr^dng off in plaster : this is an efficient way, but unfits 

 the seed for use in a planter. Crows about me get accus- 

 tomed to the various scares ; and each year, for security's 

 sake, a new one must be invented. A string passed around 

 and over the field, and elevated on sticks, is as good as any, 

 but some years is of no effect. Bright tin dangling in the 

 air, newspapers opened, and spread about the field anchored 

 with a stone, a stuffed effigy of a man, a clapping windmill, 

 etc., are often used with effect ; but oftentimes no single one 

 is of any avail. A neighbor calls my attention to the fact 

 that crows are less troublesome in the early than the late 

 season, and claims that early planting entirely obviates the 

 necessity of scaring off the crow. There is some truth in 

 this, and it is well worthy of consideration. 



Blackbirds seldom trouble me ; but once, at least, they in 

 one morning destroyed every exposed tip of corn in a field 



