THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART II. 51 



of barren stalks did not put sufficient elements in the soil to make 

 a stalk produce for the amount of seed planted ; that if they 

 had enriched their ground more and put the elements in the soil 

 for producing that amount, every stalk would have an ear on it. 



Now last season I spent all the season up to July in Virginia 

 and North Carolina, and I was studying the farm conditions 

 down there. I went into the cornfields and saw that they were 

 doing there. They told me that they fertilized their soil in order 

 to produce the largest crops possible, and I universally found this 

 fact : they planted their corn six feet apart in rows with only one 

 stalk in a hill and, mind you, they have no barren stalks at all 

 They have from three to five ears on almost every stalk of corn. 

 I wrote this up for Mr. Trigg's Register. One man just over the 

 line, but joining North Carolina, drew $1,000.00 in premiums 

 on corn where he produced 254 bushels and three pecks per acre. 

 He did this, notwithstanding the fact that he only planted one 

 stalk in a hill and six feet apart. Another man told mie he planted 

 but one stalk in a hill and he raised 152 bushels of corn to the 

 acre and he drew $150.00 on it. He told me that this coming 

 year he intended to plant his corn five feet apart and he thought 

 he would raise over 200 bushels to the acre. And I believe it is 

 the elements in the soil. If you put your manures or necessary 

 fertilizers in the soil to raise the com properly and force it, 

 you will have no barren stalks in your hill ; that it is owing to the 

 barrenness of your soil in comparison to the amount of seed 

 planted. 



I was talking to a gardener at Charles City, who was engaged 

 in raising cauliflower. He said to me, "\Kr. Waller, did you ever 

 know a man in the United States to raise cauliflower seed ?" 1 

 answered it was a thing I was not informed with reference to. 

 He said, "you can't find a man in the United States that can raise 

 cauliflower seed," He said "I have succeeded in doing it." I 

 said, "How do you account for that?" He said, "I have a piece 

 of sandy land inside of the limits of Charles City, and I have fer- 

 tilized it so thoroughly, — I have forced it to such an extent that 

 I can raise cauliflower seed." I am not informed on that subject, 

 but he told me that was a fact, and I leave it to you. 



