INDIAN CORN EXPERIMENTS. 35 



two-tenths cents a bushel; or shelled corn about seventy- 

 four and four-tenths cents a bushel. 



The other field contained two acres and 2,668 feet. It 

 had been in grass for a number of years; and, when the 

 committee on farms made me a visit in 1872, I had a crop of 

 potatoes on a part of it, a portion of which had been fertil- 

 ized by a mixture recommended by Dr. J. R. Nichols, while 

 the remainder was grown on stable-manure. As it was in 

 very poor condition, I ploughed it last autumn ; this spring, 

 nine bags of Stockbridge Corn Fertilizer were sown broad- 

 cast, and worked with the Randall Harrow ; immediately 

 after this (on May 17) the seed and four bags of the same 

 fertilizer were sown at the same time by the Ross Horse- 

 Planter. The seed was of the eight-rowed variety. 



Total cost of raising crop, including interest and taxes, 



seed, labor in planting, tending and harvesting . $48 56 

 Cost of thirteen bags fertilizer 58 50 



$107 06 



I have harvested a hundred and thirty-six bushels of first- 

 quality, and twenty-four bushels of second-quality corn on 

 the cob, also two tons and 1,172 pounds of tops, and five 

 tons and 1,442 pounds of butts and husks, making eight tons 

 and six hundred and fourteen pounds stover. 



If corn-stover well dried is worth six dollars a ton, then 

 my corn on the cob from this field cost me forty-five cents 

 and a half a bushel ; or shelled corn about ninety-one cents 

 a bushel. 



I ought to say that I was greatly troubled by crows eating 

 the freshly sown seed, and digging up the early growth, on 

 about 22,974 feet at the west side of the larger of these fields. 

 On this part came nearly all of the second quality of corn, 

 thereby reducing the total yield considerably. 



I state this fact partly to explain the very high cost per 

 bushel of shelled grain, and to show one of the many 

 annoyances to which every one is liable, and which may 

 tend to make land and fertilizer (or manure) appear much 

 less good and effective than they may be. 



Various questions arise in connection with all crops ; and 

 in this case let me consider what is best to do with our 

 stover. In my locality it is almost a universal custom to cut 



