INDIAN CORN. 



In one of the Annual Eeports of the Patent Office 

 is a series of statements from farmers in nearly all the 

 States of the Union, in which the estimated cost per 

 bushel ranged from seven cents in Iowa to seventy- 

 five cents in Massachusetts, making an average of 

 about twenty-seven cents per bushel. If we combine 

 this with the above average of thirty-two cents, it will 

 make a general average of about thirty cents per 

 bushel, which is probably not far from the true cost 

 of production for Indian corn in the United States 

 during a period extending over the last twenty years. 



The extreme figures between which this average 

 lies are seven cents in Illinois and Iowa, and seventy - 

 five cents in Massachusetts. Probably the actual dif- 

 ference between the two sections of the country would 

 be fairly stated if we should call the average cost of 

 production in the Western States fifteen to twenty 

 cents per bushel, and in the Eastern States thirty-five 

 cents. 



On the other hand, this marked difference between 

 the East and the West, in regard to the expense of 

 raising corn, is perhaps compensated, if not more than 

 this, by the difference in the market value of the grain. 



But let us look a little more closely into this ques- 

 tion of cost of production, to discover whether it is 

 possible to reduce it below the present average, and 

 if so, by what means. A careful investigation of the 

 subject will perhaps make it appear that the true 

 method of reducing the cost per bushel of Indian 

 corn is to be found in increasing rather than diminish- 

 ing the expense per acre, provided this is done on 



