I have given the average of ten of the best fertiUzers to 

 show wherein they differ from the above mixture. 



The quantity of land needed will depend upon the capacity 

 of the silo. On average land'from twelve to sixteen tons may 

 be considered an average yield per acre. 



No unvarying rule can be given for the selection of the va- 

 riety of corn best adapted for ensilage, the climate of the given 

 place must largely determine this, but my rule has been to se- 

 lect some variety of corn that will, in average years, mature suf- 

 ficiently to bring the kernel into the "roasting stage," that is^ 

 so far perfected that the interior of the kernel is past the period 

 of milky consistency, and, if a flint variety, is well towards the 

 time of "glazing," or "specking," externally. By this rule a 

 corn that would be abundantly early for southern New Hampshire 

 might not develop sufficiently for Grafton county, hence, each 

 locality must select corn adapted to its own wants. 



I cannot advise any one to buy the Western or Southern 

 corn, which, in the best of seasons, does not more than reacji 

 the period when its kernel is filled with a watery fluid, such corn 

 contains too much water and too little nutriment, or dry sub- 

 stance. It is by no means a bad practice to plant precisely the 

 same variety of corn as is used for planting fields intended to be 

 husked, for when this practice is followed the amount put in the 

 silo may be varied and the remainder, whatever the amount, may 

 be stooked for husking. 



The quantity of seed per acre must be left largely to the 

 judgment and experience of the farmer. Our practice on the 

 College farm has been to plant in rows three feet two inches 

 apart, using twelve quarts of Northern seed corn per acre, when 

 intended for husking, and sixteen quarts of seed when intended 

 for the silo. With the Southern corn thirty-two quarts per acre 

 is used, and with the Sanford corn sixteen quarts. These quan- 

 tities have given us satisfactory results. Many others, however^ 

 use less seed and a few use more. 



The cultivation of the crop is a matter of some importance, 

 for the cost of the product depends largely upon the amount of 

 labor expended. In many cases, where the land is comparative- 

 ly free from stones and strawy manure, a light smoothing har- 

 row may he profitably run over the land just as the corn is prick- 

 ing through the soil, and again when two or three inches high. 

 After this the cultivator or horse hoe should be run often and 



14 '"' 



