THE CULTURE OF CORN. 297 



means a surprising yield of this crop. A well known far- 

 mer of long Island, N. Y., Mr. Wm. Crozier, has produced 

 more than 100 bushels per acre. Mr. E. S. Carman of New 

 Jersey has grown 140 bushels per acre; the author has 

 made a crop on one-sixth of an acre of 25 bushels and 8 

 pounds, a farmer in Ohio has grown upon a small plot at 

 the rate of 246 bushels of grain to the acre, and a few far- 

 mers boys in New Hampshire, in competition for a prize 

 offered by the State Agricultural Society, grew crops of 

 from 80 to 120 bushels of grain per acre. 



Why then is it, that in the virgin soils of Iowa and Ne- 

 braska, which team with the richest plant food, no more 

 than an average of 40 bushels per acre is reached ? Inad- 

 equate culture is the secret of small crops always and every- 

 where; while thorough tillage of well fed soil ensures 

 the largest yield. Weeds and corn cannot give each a full 

 crop together. 



Corn cannot be improved by the importation of seed from 

 distant localities. It is a creature of climate and soil. The 

 best varieties of corn have been produced by constant, care- 

 ful selection, and thorough culture, for years upon the same 

 farm. One specially productive variety has been grown on 

 the same farm for 80 years; and another has been improved 

 from a yield of 40 bushels per acre up to 80 bushels, by Dr. 

 E. Lewis Sturtevant of Massachusetts, during 10 years of 

 careful selection and culture. 



Corn has a bisexual character, being what is known as 

 .a monoecious plant; that is one having staminate and pis- 

 tillate, or male and female flowers, distinct upon the same 

 perfect plant. The tassel is the staminate flower; the silk 

 is the pistillate or female flower. Every farmer at husking 

 time has observed the numerous stalks which have borne 

 cnly a tassel and have been without ears. These are imper- 

 fect plants, and when they are numerous they greatly reduce 

 the yield. These imperfect barren plants, however, serve 

 their purpose as males in impregnating the perfect plants; 

 and according to a natural law which is expressed in the 

 phrase "like always produces like," these plants have the 



