396 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



at fair prices, than is often met with, as the owner is a 

 gentleman of wealth now on a tour in Europe and has 

 instructed Mr. Allen to sell the whole herd without re- 

 serve. That it is a very superior one I am willing to cer- 

 tify, if that is of value to anybody desiring to purchase. 

 I beg pardon for spinning so long a yarn out of so little 

 material. Solon Robinson. 



Crown Point Lake Co., la., July 17, 1850. 



A Specimen of Agricultural Knowledge — Are Corn 

 Cobs Good Manure? 



[New York American Agriculturist, 9:250; Aug., 1850] 



[July ?, 1850] 



This question was lately put to me by a gentleman at 

 Jackson, North Carolina. I answered yes, of course ; that 

 I considered them highly valuable, &c. To this, another 

 man put in an objection. He cautioned the first person 

 not to use them too freely. If he did, he would not make 

 any corn; "because," said he, "I tried them last season, 

 and where I put them on thickest, I lost all my corn." 



"Ah! how do you account for that?" said I. 



"Oh! easy enough. There is so much lime in cobs, it 

 burnt up the land so that the growing corn all died." 



"So much lime in cobs!" I exclaimed; "Well, that is 

 new to me. Are you sure that was the cause?" 



"Oh, yes; certainly. What else could it be? I don't 

 believe much in lime, no how." 



"Perhaps you did not plow your cobs in deep enough. 

 What kind of land was it?" 



"Well, it was good strong clay land, and they were 

 plowed as deep as we ever plow in this country. How 

 deep would you have plowed?" 



"Ten or twelve inches?" 



"Te7i or twelve inches! Well, I don't want you to plow 

 my land. You'd turn the soil all under so deep it never 

 would do any good again." 



My dear Sir, I would not only plow that deep, but I 



