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the authority of T. S. Gold, Secretary of the Connecticut 

 Agricultural Society, that one T. B. Wakeman of that state 

 has secured the enormous yield of one hundred and seventy- 

 nine bushels and twenty-three quarts shelled corn from an 

 acre of ground. This, of course, is an exceptional yield, 

 but shows the possibilities of the crop under scientific man- 

 agement, and should teach us in the west, with the rich 

 fertile soil we are heir to, not to be plodding along with a 

 forty bushel yield. 



TIME AND MANNER OF PLANTING. 



Time of planting, depth and number of kernels to the 

 hill, are all subjects of much discussion and speculation. As 

 to time of planting, there is no little force in the reply said 

 to have been given by the late Horace Greeley,to an enquiry 

 said to have been made him. When asked, " When is 

 the best time to set a hen?" The reply was: u When the 

 hen is ready." The best and proper time to plant corn or 

 any other seed, is when the soil is ready. That is, when 

 sufficiently warm and otherwise in condition to at once 

 embrace the seed entrusted to its care, hasten to vegetation, 

 and forward as rapidly as possible to completion of cycle. 

 With us, this condition seldom occurs before the date I 

 have indicated for planting first to tenth of May often 

 the latter part. When planted before the soil possesses 

 the essential warming influences, much of the seed rots out- 

 right or becomes enfeebled, and a poor or delicate stand is 

 the result. I have in my mind's eye two adjoining fields 

 planted in corn the same year. One the latter part of 

 April and the other late in May. The May planting by 

 far, in all respects, excelled the April planting. It came 

 up quick and went along rapidly without hindrance. The 

 April planting never got out of a stunted strata. 



