288 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



' Mr. Root. My inquiry has not been answered. I want to 

 find out wjiich will pay best, the shelled corn or the sowed 

 corn? 



Mr. Webb. I can tell you — that which you need most. I 

 used both. I have raised about sis tons and a half of dried 

 fodder ; I have raised twenty-six tons of green ; in the dried state 

 it produced, I think, about six tons. Properly made and pro- 

 perly cared for, that is equal to hay, although perhaps it is not 

 generally so considered. I have a milk dairy, and sowed 

 corn, ton for ton, will be equally profitable with hay. 



Mr. Gold. In answer to Mr. Root's question, I will say 

 that I tried, this season, this experiment. I sowed, with a 

 machine, two fields of about seven acres each. All the land 

 was prepared in the same way. The first half of each field, 

 we drilled in about half a bushel of corn to the acre, in rows 

 four feet apart. Tlie other lialf of the field we made the 

 rows three feet apart, and drilled in about a bushel to the 

 acre. This was done in both fields, putting the sowed corn 

 upon the poorest part of each field. We cultivated both fields 

 almost entirely by horse power, with the cultivator and plow, 

 going over both parts with the hoe, very lightly, once. The 

 sowed corn was cut up and fed green ; the small surplus 

 being fed dry to the cattle. Of course, the labor was very 

 much less upon that than upon the other. I am unable to 

 say which part of the field was most profitable ; but, as Mr. 

 Webb says, the profit depends upon which kind of feed you 

 want most. I wanted sowed corn at that season, and I raised 

 it by drilling three feet apart, and with very little culture, 

 except by the horse. I wanted the grain, and I got that from 

 the part planted four feet apart, and with very little hand 

 culture. 



Question. Has any one used bone dust to any extent on 

 grass land, and for other crops ? 



Mr. Hale. Our farm of about forty acres, devoted to 

 small fruits, has been manured almost wholly for the past ten 

 years with raw, ground bone, and muriate of potash — depend- 



