76 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



to wheat again. The best wheat crops I have gotten have been on 

 corn land. This year I have 385 acres of wheat growing and half of it 

 is on corn land, and is looking fine. 



Mr. Boles : I want to emphasize one point which Mr. Weeks made 

 in his talk. He said that after he came back from school he felt as if 

 he took more interest in the cultivation of corn than he did before he 

 went. Now, the point is this : the more knowledge we have of a thing 

 the more interest we take in it, and that's the secret of the whole busi- 

 ness, to take an interest. If we learn what corn is good and what is 

 not, then we will not plant the scrub corn. And this will hold good 

 in everything. I will say to these students, the more you know about 

 a thing the more useful it will be to you. 



Mr. Laughlin: How do you cut your corn? 



Mr. Weeks : I set the binder to tie as small as possible, about one 

 dozen stalks to the bundle. 



Mr. Laughlin : How many stalks do you put in a bundle ? 



Mr. Weeks : That depends on condition of corn at time of cutting ; 

 if it is green, cut smaller bundles than if dry. 



Mr. Laughlin : How do you shock your corn with these binders ? 



Mr. Weeks : I used the binder this year for the first time, I shred- 

 ded the fodder. Taking ever}i:hing into consideration, you can get 

 the fodder ready to shred much cheaper. This is not an expensive 

 way to cut corn. 



Mr. Laughlin : I have a jack twelve feet long with the legs bolted 

 on; an open place is left in the center, and you can put in about 20 

 bundles. You will have to tie the bundles or they will fall down -when 

 you pull that jack out. 



Mr. : I would like to ask if you can cut ten or twelve 



acres a day with one binder? 



Mr. Weeks : I have never tried it a whole day at a time ; but I 

 have cut about eight acres in three-fourths of a day, using four mules. 



Mr. : I have had some exf)erience with a corn binder for 



cutting fodder. A great many men object to the expcnsiveness of this 

 manner of cutting corn ; and I thought at first when I began using the 

 binder that it was as expensive as the old-fashioned way of cutting 

 with the corn knife ; but this year it was too muddy to cut corn on my 

 farm with a binder ; and I was driven to the necessity of employing men 

 and cutting it by hand ; it cost me about $35 to cut my corn this year 

 by hand and set it up, and I know that it was poorly done. It should 

 not have cost me over seven or eight dollars (barring cost of team and 

 binder) to have harvested that corn with the binder. 



