68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



True, and yet we really believe that corn growing can be made as profit- 

 able here as there, even should it cost fifty cents a bushel, which it need 

 not. Numerous experiments have fully proved that it can be grown for 

 less. We have now before us an article printed in The Homestead (Hart- 

 ford, Conn.), which give us detailed accounts of the cost and profit of grow- 

 ing Indian corn in that State, which is sometimes said to be so worn out 

 that it will not grow corn with any profit to the planter, and hence it is 

 pining to emigrate to the rich corn lands of Indiaca, Illinois, Iowa, or 

 Kansas. 



Here is an extract from that article, which we commend to the attention 

 of all our corn-planting readers : 



' Before we put in our corn for this season, let us look at the methods 

 used to secure some of the premium crops of last season. Nathan Hart, Jr., 

 of West Cornwall, raised the largest corn crop reported to the State Agri- 

 cultural Society last year. The soil was a rich friable loam, which had 

 been in grass for the last forty years, and had received no manure except 

 the droppings of the cattle. It had probably been pretty well manured in 

 this way ; hay had probably been foddered upon it. Twenty-four ox cart 

 loads of manure from the barn cellar were applied to this crop (half cord 

 we presume). The land was plowed seven inches deep on the 9fch and lltb 

 of May. The seed was of the Button variety. It was soaked for thirty- 

 six hours in a warm solution of saltpetre, and rolled in plaster and planted 

 May 28, four kernels in a hill, the hills from two to two and a half feet 

 apart in the rows, and the rows three feet apart. It was hoed three times by 

 hand, after the horse-hoe, at intervals of eight days, commencing Jnne 13„ 



" The crop was cut up by the roots during the week commencing Sep- 

 tember 17, and husked the first week in November. The yield was ninety- 

 eight bushels, one peck, six quarts ; estimated value of crop, including 



stalks and pumpkins, $103 43 



Cost of raising, 37 50 



Balance profit of the crop, $65 90 



"^Wni. H. Putnam, of Brooklyn, stands next on the list of competitors. 

 The soil was a wet, black loam, with a heavy, compact subsoil, which had 

 been three years previous in grass, with no manure. Sixteen full loads of 

 stable manure from under cover were plowed in, and ten loads of compost, 

 made from fermented stable and hog manure, well mixed with rather poor 

 summer-made yard manure, was put in the hill. His land is plowed eight 

 inches deep ; and if it is cold and wet, suitable manure is applied in the 

 hill and the corn dropped upon it. The land is furrowed three feet, and 

 the corn dropped two and one-half feet apart in the furrow. Plaster is 

 dropped upon the corn. It undergoes no preparation. At least six quarts 

 of seed are used to the acre — variety, the Khode Island premium, planted 

 May 27. The corn is cultivated and hoed twice, and thinned to four spears 

 in the hill. The corn is cut up by the roots, and stacked. The yield was 



