1Y6 INDIAN CORN. 



eight hundred and thirty-eight millions, seven hun- 

 dred and ninety-two thousand, seven hundred and 

 forty bushels. Allowing twenty- five bushels of grain 

 to a ton of stover, this would give thirty-three mil- 

 lions, five hundred and fifty-one thousand, seven hun- 

 dred and nine tons as the stalk product of the main 

 corn crop of the country. This, however, is but one 

 branch, though by far the largest, of the entire stalk 

 crop. To arrive at the sum total, we must add to 

 this the amount of stalks produced by several other 

 crops, viz. : the crop of sweet corn, of green fodder, 

 and of cured fodder. 



Though we have not the same data to base a com- 

 putation upon in the case of these crops as in the one 

 above, we can still deduce from other grounds proxi- 

 mate results which, if somewhat less certain, may yet 

 be placed low enough to give them a high degree of 

 probability. There are four million farmers in the 

 United States, some of whom, doubtless, cultivate all 

 three of these crops, while others raise one or two of 

 them, and others again perhaps not any. Now it ia 

 reasonable to presume that on an average one or 

 another of these crops is raised by every farmer ; but 

 to bring the estimate nearer to a certainty, let us as- 

 sume that by one-half the farmers in the country one 

 or another of these crops is annually cultivated. Let 

 us then further suppose the extent of each crop to be 

 one acre, and the average yield of stalks four tons per 

 acre. We then have eight million tons of stover to 

 be added to the amount obtained above. 



If now, for the sake of still higher probability, we 



