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- possibilities of this crop, and that there is more in its careful cultivation than was formerly 

 supposed. There is no doubt that exaggerated statements have often been made relative to 

 the amount harvested, and which have caused farmers to look upon reports of unusually 

 large yields with distrust; yet we know from authentic sources, that under favoring circum 

 stances of soil, climate, skillful cultivation, and a season suited to its perfect development, 

 immense and almost incredible yields have been produced, which prove the possibilities of 

 the crop when properly managed, and which should lead corn-growers to consider the ques 

 tion as to whether their present method of culture is the most profitable one that can be 

 adopted, and whether more care in enriching the soil and tilling it would not in the end be 

 more economic and profitable. 



Dr. E. L. Sturtevant of Massachusetts, states that he has obtained, from one acre, one 

 hundred and twenty -three bushels of shelled corn; Mr. Henry Stewart of New Jersey says: 

 &quot; I have grown a crop equal to one hundred and fifty bushels and forty-eight pounds per acre 

 of shelled corn on a potato-stubble, and one hundred and eighty-nine bushels of shelled corn 

 on two acres of oat-stubble.&quot; 



Mr. E. S. Carman, editor of &quot;The Eural New-Yorker,&quot; recently raised upon his Long 

 Island farm one hundred and thirty-four bushels and a half of shelled corn on seven-eighths 

 of an acre, and one hundred and fifty-nine bushels and one-third on another whole acre. 

 Other reports equally reliable give the yield a hundred and thirty-eight and a hundred and 

 forty-six bushels per acre, while we know of frequent yields from eighty to a hundred bush 

 els. We have seen the published assertion, that in one of the extensively corn-growing 

 States, the immense yield of two hundred bushels of shelled corn have been grown per acre, 

 with exceptionally good cultivation, which may or may not be correct, as the statement has 

 never been authentically verified. &quot;We do not give it as a fact; however, it would be well 

 for our farmers, if more of them would aim to attain that result, and thus approach nearer to 

 it than they now do. The majority of our best farmers have found it difficult to reach a 

 yield of ninety or a hundred bushels per acre, but by making the standard of yield high, 

 those whose lands are suited to the cultivation of corn will find that higher results can be 

 reached than is commonly supposed. 



The kind and quality of seed will largely affect the yield, while other conditions, such 

 as soil, culture, &c., will modify it still further. The height to which the full-grown plant 

 attains varies with different varieties and soils, sometimes reaching the luxuriant growth of 

 eighteen feet on the rich soil of some of the &quot;Western prairies, and those of a similar charac 

 ter. The color of the kernel depends upon that of the hull and the oil it contains. In the 

 white varieties they are both transparent; in yellow corn the hull is transparent and the oil 

 yellow ; the red and blue kinds owe their color to the hue of the hull or covering. In some 

 varieties of corn there is a larger amount of oil than in others, some being nearly destitute of 

 it. Oil is useful in protecting the grain, when germinating in the soil, from being too rapidly de 

 composed in long-continued wet weather, and in imparting nourishment to the young plants. 

 It also has a tendency to keep meal from souring as readily as it otherwise would, that ground 

 from corn having the least oil becoming musty, or sour, soonest. The Tuscarora corn con 

 tains very little, if any, oil, and the meal made from it will keep sweet but a short time. In 

 the manufacturing of whisky, during the process of fermentation, the oil separates from the 

 corn and rises to the surface, and is taken off and used for various purposes. According to 

 good authority, rice-corn contains the most oil, pop-corn next, Canada corn ranks third, and 

 broom-corn fourth; and as the lowest varient types are the small rice-corn and pop-corn, and 

 the highest some of the most valuable improved varieties, it would seem that the effect of 

 careful cultivation is to increase the starchy properties of the grain to the lessening of the 

 fatty contents. 



As an article of food for man, it is a very healthful and nutritive diet, containing, as it 



