118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



(fifty-six pounds to the bushel) of shelled corn to the acre. The 

 corn was all weighed, and there were eighty-five baskets (sev- 

 enty-two pounds to a basket) to the acre, which made ninety- 

 three bushels, fifty-six pound to the bushel. I am not positive 

 as to the cost, but I think it was forty-three cents and a fraction 

 per bushel. 



Mr. Moore. When was it weighed ? 



Mr. Johnson. Two weeks ago. 



Mr. Moore. How much will it shrink before it is ready for 

 market ? 



Mr. Johnson. I can't tell you. It will shrink considerably. 

 But you will all be aware, that as the season has been, it must 

 have been pretty well dried before it was cut up. I let it stand 

 until I am satisfied that the corn was cured sufficient to crib 

 and keep well, and the stubble also. It was husked and weighed 

 before one of the selectmen of our town, and I kept close watch 

 of the weight of the baskets, as he did, and there was not a 

 basket that was not properly weighed. I was considerably 

 excited during the whole time, for I knew what had been said, 

 and I was watchful. I was glad to learn that the doctor had 

 raised his corn at a price about corresponding to that. I hardly 

 wanted to meet that corn committee, for fear they would think 

 there must have been something wrong about that field of corn. 

 Since I have been here, several farmers have estimated the cost 

 of raising an acre of corn, and my friend from Upton, Mr. 

 Knowlton, who has been a large corn raiser, estimated the cost 

 at forty-two cents a bushel. In estimating the cost of my corn, 

 I charged the crop with two-fifths of the cost of the manure, — 

 fourteen cords to the acre, — and it left me a net profit of about 

 eighty dollars to the acre. 



Mr. Buffinton. What do you call the corn fodder worth ? 



Mr. Johnson. I call the tops worth three cents a bundle, 

 which is the usual estimate. I do not consider them worth 

 three cents a bundle, unless they are used as they are cut for 

 the cows. I was unfortunate in the corn. (I may as well tell 

 you the whole story.) I planted it the fifteenth day of May. 

 It remained dry, and the corn did not come up well, and after 

 the first hoeing I replanted, and got more fodder than I did 

 corn. 



