GRAIN CROPS. 139 



GKAI]^ CROPS. 



ESSEX. 



Statement of Olivet' P. Killam, 



Indian Corn. — The crop of 1873 was English grass ; that 

 of 1874 Indian corn. Twenty-one cords of long manure from 

 the barn cellar were used on four and a half acres, as nearly 

 equal as could be. The soil is a dark, gravelly loam. The 

 ground was ploughed once eight inches deep, and afterwards 

 harrowed and furrowed three and a half feet apart each way. 

 The cost of harrowing and furrowing was $2.50 per acre ; cost 

 of ploughing $3.50 per acre. Fifteen loads of manure were 

 used on each acre, three loads being equal to one cord. The 

 value of the manure on the ground was $9 per cord. Three 

 hundred pounds of Cumberland superphosphate was used, at 

 a cost of $7.50 per acre, planted from the 15th to the 20th of 

 May, three and a half feet apart each way, using about six 

 quarts of eight-rowed corn to the acre. Cost of seed and 

 planting, $5 per acre. The crop was cultivated three times 

 each way and hoed well once, and after harrowing, the weeds 

 were thoroughly cleaned out. The cost of cultivating, hoeing 

 and thinning, was $5 per acre. The corn was cut close to 

 the ground the last week of September, four hills laid together 

 and six bunches put in each stook, using a stooking-horse 

 and birch withes drawn around each one to hold it together. 

 The corn was drawn to the barn from the 15th of October to 

 the 8th of November and husked, the fodder bound in bundles 

 and set, butts up, to cure. The cost of harvesting, husk- 

 ing and storing, was $12.50 per acre. There were on four 

 acres 626^ bushels of sound corn, averaging forty pounds 

 to the bushel. The amount on one acre, 176^ bushels of 

 sound ears, forty pounds to the bushel ; also eight bushels 

 of green corn, half of which would be fair corn when dry. 

 After carefully weighing a portion of the fodder, my esti- 



