MAIZE. 



MAIZE. 



Mr. Colman says, "that on the hilly portions 

 of Massachusetts but little corn is raised, but 

 that it makes a large product on the allu- 

 vial lands of the Deerfield and Connecticut. 

 The largest amount I have known raised in 

 one year, by one individual, has been 1400 

 bushels ; but many farmers produce from 300 

 to 1000 bushels. The judgment of some of the 

 most intelligent farmers in Deerfield places the 

 average yield at 35 bushels to the acre, which 

 seems to be underrated. I have," he says, 

 "known upwards of 90 bushels grown on an 

 acre in Deerfield meadows; an average yield 

 of more than 70 bushels on several acres in 

 Northfield; and other abundant crops, which 

 show at least what might be obtained by good 

 cultivation ; and likewise how much more pro- 

 fitable is good than inferior cultivation. " 



It is evident that over that portion of the 

 Middle and Southern States lying east of the 

 Mountains, and where the lands have been so 

 greatly impoverished by long and scourging 

 culture, commencing with that greatest of ex- 

 hausters, tobacco, the expenses per acre incur- 

 red in the raising of corn must be very much 

 lower than either of the estimates furnished for 

 Pennsylvania and the Northern and Eastern 

 States. Large tracts of the light alluvial districts 

 forming the tide-water sections of Virginia and 

 Maryland, do not yield an average per acre 

 exceeding from 10 to 20 bushels; and still corn 

 continues to be cultivated, even when the price 

 is below 50 cents per bushel. Such crops would 

 be ruinous to the farmer, were he not able to 

 cultivate his acres of light unmanured soil at 

 less than 5 or 10 dollars each. In the rich 

 prairies of the West it is stated that crops of 

 corn, averaging 50 bushels to the acre, can be 

 raised at an expense of only 3 or 4 dollars per 

 acre. 



Qualities of Corn. Abundant experience has 

 shown that the fattening qualities of Indian corn 

 are exceedingly great; so that all who can obtain 

 this grain prefer it to every thing else for fatten- 

 ing stock, all kinds of which eat it with avidity 

 an<1 advantage. It is rich in oil of a very plea- 

 sant and useful kind. That which is best 

 known is obtained in the process of distillation 

 for making whisky and alcohol a great per- 

 version of the use of so precious a grain. The 

 temperance reform is correcting this evil, and 

 another mode of manufacturing the oil is now 

 in great vogue, namely, by passing the grain 

 through the secreting organs of swine, and 

 ' thus obtaining it in the modified forms of lard 

 and lard-oil. As these commodities are both 

 in great request at home, and more especially 

 in Europe, a new and rich resource is thus 

 opened to the corn planters of the United 

 States, those especially who cultivate fertile 

 Western lands too far from grain-markets, to 

 be able to dispose of their crops in that form. 



The chemical analysis of Indian corn has been 

 lately effected by Dr. Dana, of Massachusetts, 

 and published in the New England Farmer. For 

 the purposes of comparing its nutritive and 

 fattening qualities with those of some other ar- 

 ticles extensively used for feeding stock, Dr. 

 Dana has added the analyses of ruta-bagas 

 and potatoes. The great difference of what 

 756 



Dr. Dana calls the fat forming principles in 

 favour of corn, will excite but little surprise in 

 those who have witnessed the effects of the 

 several substances on animals, and will go far 

 to establish the position assumed by Payen and 

 Boussingalt, that plants are valuable for giving 

 fat to animals only in proportion to the vege- 

 table oils ready formed such plants contain. 



Table showing tlie average prices of Indian corn in 

 Philadelphia market for each quarter of the 

 year, and also the annual averages for the fol- 

 lowing years, viz. : 



The above average prices are for Southern 

 flat yellow corn, commonly called gourdseed, 

 which generally sells for about 3 cents less per 

 bushel than the Pennsylvania round or flint 

 corn, which last is heaviest by 3 or 4 Ibs. to 

 the bushel. The amount of white flat corn 

 sent to the Philadelphia market is inconsider- 

 able, being only occasionally in demand for 

 shipment to Southern ports, where the white 

 corn is preferred for bread, whilst in the North 

 the preference is always given to yellow corn 

 meal. White flat corn usually sells about 3 

 cents lower per bushel than the flat yellow. 



Measuring Corn, Shelled or on the Ear. The 

 following rule for this purpose is given by 

 William Murray, Esq. of South Carolina. It 

 is not to be regarded as strictly accurate, but 

 an approximation. 



Having previously levelled the corn in the 

 house, so that it will be of equal depth through- 

 out, ascertain the length, breadth, and depth of 

 the bulk ; multiply these dimensions together, 

 and their products by 4, then cut off one figure 

 from the right of this last product. This will 

 give so many bushels and a decimal of a 

 bushel of shelled corn. If it be required to 

 find the quantity of ear corn, substitute 8 for 

 4, and cut off one figure as before. 



Example. In a bulk of corn in the ear, mea- 

 suring 12 feet long, 11 feet broad, and 6 fo<Jt 

 deep, there will be 316 bushels and j\ of a 



