38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The land upon which we grow corn is very variable. Part 

 of our land is very stony and part of it is brick clay. Quite 

 a large pro})ortion of the field where we raised corn this 

 year has been dug over for burning brick in years past. 

 One side of the field is gravelly. In fact, if there is any 

 kind of a soil you ever saw, we have that soil. We hav^e level 

 land and we have hilly land. I would never farm hilly land 

 if I could 2:et level land. 



Now, as to corn. If you will stop a moment to think, you 

 know that this corn plant, unlike most of the other grasses, 

 wants heat. The timothy and the clover will start early in 

 the spring, before the snow is ofi' the ground ; in fact, they 

 grow all the time unless the ground is frozen very hard, 

 Avhereas corn wants the heat of the sun, — frost kills it. I 

 fear we do not think of this when we plough the ground, 

 when we feed the ground and when we manure the ground. 

 Before we plough we manure the ground with about five loads 

 per acre, spread on the surface l)y hand. A load is about a 

 ton and a half as it comes from the stable, of mixed manure, 

 cows and horses. That is about all we can afford to put on, 

 because we have got one hundred and fifty acres, and it all 

 wants a little something ; it all Avants a little nil)ble, any- 

 how, if it cannot get any more. I do not believe in over- 

 feeding one plant and letting the others starve. About 

 January or February we shall have the corn field covered 

 with manure. The balance of the manure that we cannot 

 put on the field at that time or m the pastures we keep in 

 a covered yard, so as to preserve it. We have no barn- 

 yard, have not had for fifteen years. ^Ve never turn an 

 animal out of doors unless it is for exercise. If there are 

 any large stones rolling round on the surface, we take them 

 out. We have got most of the large ones taken out, and 

 the ground is in good condition. After spreading the 

 manure we take a marker and mark out the rows three by 

 six, and then we have a Western two-horse corn planter 

 that will plant from eight to twelve acres a day, — plant, 

 cover and roll, — and we plant one way. This corn planter 

 makes the rows very straight and the corners in line ; the 

 other way the boy often makes them a little crooked. The 

 object in check-rowing it is because, although we cannot 



