104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



place from new material. Now, in reply to the question, ex- 

 perimentally, where you can keep the leaf in condition for 

 absorbing and furnishing the moisture in transferring nutri- 

 ment, you can ripen the corn from the material already 

 stored in the stalk, as soon as you can detect a thorough 

 formation of the true corn grain. But, in the condition of 

 practice, the leaf wilts, these operations stop, and it will be 

 unsafe to cut corn before you see evidences of ripening in 

 the grain itself, before a large part of this process of trans- 

 ference has taken place. 



Mr. . The doctor is an advocate for planting corn. 



I want to learn something about it. Will he be kind enouc^h 

 to state to us the character of his soil, the amount of fertil- 

 izer he uses, and the amount of crop he aims to raise, that 

 we may judge ourselves in regard to liis practice. 



Dr. Sturtevant. The amount of crop I '' aim to raise " 

 is two hundred bushels to the acre : but I cannot do it. jNIy 

 soil is good corn-soil. It is a light, gravelly loam, varying 

 in thickness, in almost every place where I turn it up, from 

 four inches or three inches, in some places, to six, eight, nine, 

 ten inches of good brown loam, overlying an uneven stratum 

 of light loam, which may vary from a few inches to a foot or 

 two or more ; and, underneath, a pure gravel, which allows 

 water to pass through with the utmost readiness in any 

 season. It is what I call a good type of first-quality light 

 soil. The corn is planted in drills three and a half feet 

 apart, two feet apart in the hills, four kernels in a hill ; 

 giving, provided every thing works properly, about twenty- 

 five thousand kernels to the acre. 



My ploughing I do according to convenience, — some of it 

 occasionally in the fall, oftener in the spring. I plough as 

 early as I can. The land is then harrowed. The fertilizer is 

 strewn upon the surface broadcast, and then harrowed in, — 

 usually with a light harrow. Then comes the planting; 

 when the corn is up about six inches, I take a Thomas 

 smoothing-harrow, and rake that land over, and that destroj-s 

 every germinating seed, and breaks down the corn a little. 

 It looks like pretty harsh treatment; but the next day or 

 two you will find a clean field, and the corn up just the same 

 as ever. Then I wait until the corn has a good, strong, 

 vigorous growth. It may look about a foot high, and meas- 



