638 



FARMERS' REGISTER— tkRGE PRODUCT OF CORN. 



heard before, and upon which, therefore, we can 

 have no pretence to exercise our own ineffable 

 Belf-conceit. At the same time, Ave of en show 

 ourselves to be the veriest infidels upon earth np 

 to every new thing atlirnied of what we believe 

 that we understand very well, merely from hav- 

 ing been long accustomed to it. Our own com- 

 paratively limited expeiience is made the standard 

 of all that is knowable or attainable, in relation to 

 such matters. Thus the owners and culti valors 

 of poor land, as most Virginia farmers are. v/ill 

 generally be Iband — not only ignorant of what 

 actually can be produced by soils, either naturally 

 or artificially very fertile, but they are utter!3Mn- 

 credulous when they hear of any crop which they 

 themselves have been used to cultivate, being 

 elsewhere made to a far greater amount per acre, 

 than they have ever made, or seen others make. 



Of these general truths, I lately witnessed a 

 most striking exemplification. Happening to be 

 in a large company, and the conversation turning 

 upon agricultural subjects, I ventured to state, upon 

 such authority as I thought would not be question- 

 ed — authority, in fact, that any court of law would 

 have deemed sufficient, that a certain number of 

 barrels of corn, far exceeding the average quanti- 

 ty, had been made on a single acre of land, on the 

 South J3ranch of the Potomac. The derisive 

 Btare of incredulity was plainly legible upon seve- 

 ral countenances — not that any seemed to doubt 

 my having heard what 1 stated, but these skepti- 

 cal gentlemen evidently disbelieved the fact itself 

 Indeed, one of the company commenced a calcu- 

 lation, but soon stoppetl short, to prove that the 

 quantity of corn said to have been produced by the 

 acre, would have more thancovcred the whole sur- 

 face, if the ears had been spread on it as close as 

 they could be i)laced side by side. Now, not a 

 shadow of doubt could have been either felt or ex- 

 pressed by an individual of the company, (who 

 were, most of them, farmers or planters,) had 

 they given themselves the trouble to road the va- 

 rious accounts which have been published from 

 time to time, in all our aii-ricultural papers through- 

 out the country, and autlienticated as satisfactorily 

 as any judicial record, that still larger quantities j 

 of corn have been made p.cracre, than the quanti- 

 ty mentioned by me, which seemed to excite such 

 unexpected incredulity. 



With a view to show that I have the requisite 

 proofs to confirm my assertion, let me beg you to 

 re-publish from tlie"l5th volume of the American 

 Farmer the following accounts of extraordinary 

 crops of corn made in diiferent parts of the Uni- 

 ted States, in regard to which, all the facts seem to 

 be just as well authenticated as that you publish 

 the Farmers' Register. Besides curing, I hope, 

 the skepticism of "the gentlemen to whom I allude 

 — who will probably see this statement, it may 

 serve the still more valuable purpose of stimula- 

 ting others to exert themselves in improving their 

 corn-lands far beyond any degree of fertility which 

 they have heretofore believed them capable of at- 

 taining. 



In the 15th volume of the American Farmer, 

 page 243, you will find the following facts copied 

 from the New York Farmer, to the editor of which 

 they were communicated by a Mr. Henry Cole- 

 man of Massachusetts, lie says, "they were 

 submitted to the most careful examination, and es- 

 tablished by the fullest proofV 



"John Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J. produced 

 on one acre 118 bushels, 2 quarts. Mr. S. was 

 confident he would have had considerably more 

 corn, had not his crop suffered very greatly by a 

 thunder-storm, which laid the greater i;art of it 

 down at the time the ears were setting. On this 

 crop a bet of 50 guineas was pending. The mo- 

 tives to exact measurement were such, therefore, 

 ns to secure accuracy. This was some years since: 

 the particular dale I am not able to ascertain." 



"l)r. Steele, of Saratoga, in giving an attested 

 account of the crops of Earl Stimson, in 1821, 

 says, that he had eight acres of Indian corn, 

 which yielded 112 bushels to the acre — 896 bush- 

 els; ten do. do. 90 bushels to the acre — 900 bush- 

 els. — (Memoirs of the New York Agricultural 

 Society, vol. II. page 73.") 



"Tlie Ibllowiiig individuals applied to the Agri- 

 cultural Society in Washington county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, in October 1823, for premiums, with au- 

 thenticated evidence of the quantity raised \,ev 

 acre on not less than five acres: Joseph Evans, 

 136 bushels; John Wolf, 127^ do. do.; Samuel An- 

 derson, 123 bushels, 12 rpiarts do.; Isaac Vanvo- 

 kers, 120 do. do.; Isaac Buckingham, 118 bushels, 

 1 quart do.; James Clakey, 113 do. do.; Jesse 

 Cooper, 108 do. do.; De Gross Jennings, 120 do. 

 do." 



"In the same year, the following individuals 

 applied to the Alleghany county Agricultural So- 

 ciety, for premiums on their crops: James Ander- 

 son, of Ross township, 103 bushels, 17 (piarts on 1 

 acre; John Snyder of do. 103 do. per acre on five 

 acres; John Irwin, of do. 105 bushels, 20 quarts 

 per acre on four and three-quarter acres; Wil- 

 liam McClure, 129 bushels per acre on five acres. 

 — (Memoirs oi' Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, 

 vol.vi. page 228.") 



"In 1822, J. & M. Pratt, (^ Easton, Madison 

 county. New York-, obtained from one acre, 172^ 

 bushels do. do. 161 do. — do. do. 161 do. In 1821 

 the same gentlemen obtained from four acres 680 

 busliels, or 170 to the acre." Their crops were 

 subjected to the particular examination of com- 

 mittees for a premium: and they sny they have no 

 doubt of being able to raise 200 bushels per 

 acre." 



"In 1823, Benjamin Bartlctt, of Easton, Madi- 

 son county, N. Y., obtained from one acre, 174 

 bushels. The veracity of this gentleman is equal- 

 ly unquestioned, and his too, was a premium j 

 crop." - ■ 



"In 1831, Benjamin Butler, of Oxford, Che- 1 

 nango county, N. Y., states that he raised 130 

 bushels at 60 lbs. to the bushel, or 140 bushels at 56 

 lb. per bushel. — (New England Farmer for Nov. 

 1831.) 



Fifteen other cases, all substantiated b\' evidence 

 perfectly satisfactorj-, are stated by jMr. Coleman, 

 of" corn crops made in the cold, uncongenial climate 

 of Massachusetts, from the year 1820 to 1831, 

 where the produce per acre varied from 110 bush- 

 els — the lowest, to 142 bushels — tlie highest 

 quantity made. But if any of your re;iders should 

 wish to see M r. Coleman's own statement, let him 

 turn to the volume and page of tlie American 

 Farmer to which I have referred. 



Now, I beg leave, to inquire — nay. to demand 

 of our self-satisfied, opinionated Virginia farmers, 

 why they cannot go and do likewise? Why they 

 cannot, at least eqiial the crops of our eastern ag- 



