1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



191 



get the Peruvian guano, for he could not warrant 

 any other ; but that he considered it a perfect ma- 

 nure. He raised two hundred bushels of corn this 

 year on land that would not have borne white beans 

 by the use of one ton of guano. [Quantity of land 

 not stated.] The guano was ajiplied in a finely 

 pulverized state. He carried it into the field in 

 that state, and mixed it with some of the earth of 

 the field, whatever it might be, and then sowed it. 

 In answer to a question from the chairman, he said 

 the average crop was fifty bushels to the acre in his 

 ^^cinity, and where manure is applied freely and 

 guano used, they get from sixty to seventy-five 

 bushels. When asked what was the average cost 

 of cultivation to the acre, he said he had made no 

 figures, and rather humorously suggested that if a 

 farmer were to do that, he would fail twice in a year, 

 a statement which produced incredulous smiles. 



Mr. Walker further urged farmers to try the use 

 of the phosphates and of guano more, with care to 

 * record the results of their experiments. He was ear- 

 nest in his advice to cultivate corn more. 



Mr. COOLEY, of Conway, found corn the most 

 profitable crop he could raise. He raised it on the 

 same field two years in succession, the first year ap 

 plying twelve to fourteen loads of compost — half 

 milck and half barn-j-ard manure — to the acre, 

 and the second year, applying twenty-five loads 

 to the acre; he obtained seventy bushels to 

 the acre, which weighed in January sixty-four lbs 

 to the bushel. According to his calculations it 

 cost him forty-eight cents per bushel. 



Mr. Osgood, of South Reading, thought there 

 had not been sufficient attention given to raising 

 corn for green fodder. He said that he had for- 

 merly been employed in buying butter and cheese 

 for the Boston market, and always found the best 

 to be produced where farmers fed green corn in 

 the case of failure of their pastures. Last year he 

 planted a piece of very poor land, — pine plain land 

 ■ — and applied a compost of night-soil and coal ash- 

 es, and raised as fine a piece of corn for fodder as 

 he had ever seen. On a part of the same land, he 

 applied well-rotted, barn-yard manure, liberally, 

 and the crop was not as good as in the other case. 

 On feeding green com as fodder, he had found his 

 cows to increase in their quantity of milk, giving 

 nearly as much in the fall as when fed in the pas- 

 tures in June. 



Mr. Emerson, of Boston, wanted to have some 

 information as to the best kind of corn to be plant- 

 ed. Last year he planted a kind of eight rowed 

 corn, which did not get ripe on his farm, which is 

 in New Hampshire. 



Mr. Walker recommended the use of the kind 

 called the King Philip com. His own ripened 

 thoroughly, and was ripe sooner, by a fortnight, 

 than that of any one in the town. It is a produc- 

 tive corn also. 



Mr. Dodge, of Sutton, had been experimenting 

 with a small kind of corn, which he called Tip corn. 

 He planted it in drills, and quite thick; he procured 

 a large crop. He had found an objection to the 

 King Philip corn that it had a large stalk, and 

 sometimes it did not ripen on his land. There is a 

 singular fact, that while all crops of the root kind 

 have deteriorated, corn, which is indigenous here, 

 maintains its character. He knew of one farm 

 where the same kind of corn had been planted for 

 seventy years, and never changed or mixed at all. 

 He had found corn to be his most profitable crop. 

 Many farmers say they cannot aff"ord to raise corn. 

 But corn can be raised for fifty-eight cents per bush- 

 el. If so, it is a profitable crop in this State. 



Pork can be made from corn, and the raising of 

 pork will help in increasing the manures. He had 

 not been successful in the use of the phosphates. 

 In the purchase of guano, he had reason to believe 

 that farmers were often imposed upon. He spoke 

 strongly in favor of corn fodder for cows. He knew 

 the cow of a neighbor that gave a good quantity of 

 milk thi-ough the wiiiter and appeared well in the 

 spring, having been fed only on corn stalks. 



Mr. W. J. BrcKMixsTER thought too much 

 could not be said in favor of the cultivation of corn. 

 Nothing makes a farmer feel so rich as a good crop 

 of corn. He exhibited some specimens, which he 

 supposed to be the Brown corn, which was very 

 handsome indeed. It is an eight-rowed corn, with a 

 small cob and stalk, and filled out perfectly at the 

 tip. 



He sowed considerable corn in drills for fodder 

 and some broad-cast. In both cases, he obtained 

 a large crop. In curing, there is a danger of ma- 

 king the stalks too dry. Even if they mould a lit- 

 tle, cattle will eat them better. For fodder, he was 

 rather in favor of the sweet corn. Gen. Chandler, 

 of Lexington, had told him, he said, that he had 

 raised a certain kind of sweet corn for twenty 

 years, and he had found it very excellent. His cat- 

 tle will pick out the stalks of sweet com from a mix- 

 ture of diff"erent kind*, showing that they prefer it. 



Mr. Howard, of Boston, spoke of the varieties of 

 corn which are recommended. Among them he 

 said there was one which had obtained great celeb- 

 rity under the name of the Wyandott corn. But it 

 has been known in Western New York as the Tus- 

 carora corn, and it is of a white and tasteless kind. 

 The earliest kind of sweet corn is known as the 

 Darling corn, from the late Judge Darllxg, of 

 New Haven, Connecticut. It is very sweet and 

 very early. 



To Correspondents. — A beautiful article on 

 "Woman's Influence" in rural life, by a lady, one 

 on agricultural afi"airs in Nova Scotia, and several 

 others on various topics, have been received and 

 will be "-iven in due time. 



