MAIZE. 



MAIZE. 



bushel of shelled corn, or 633 bushels and 

 - of ear corn as : 



12 

 11 



132 

 6 



792 



4 



316,8 



132 

 6 



792 



The decimal 4 is used when the object is to 

 find the quantity in shelled corn, because that 

 decimal is half of the decimal 8, and it requires 

 two bushels of ear corn to make one of shelled 

 corn. In using these rules a half bushel should 

 be added for every hundred, that amount of 

 error resulting from the substitution of the de- 

 cimals. (Southern Agriculturist.) 



Distances of Planting. The following table 

 furnished by Judge 'Duel, exhibits the difference 

 in product of planting and serves to explain, 

 in part, the manner in which large crops of 

 this grain have been obtained. It is assumed 

 in the estimate, that each stalk produces one 

 ear of corn, and that the ears average one gill 

 of shelled grain. This, says the judge, is es- 

 timating the product low ; for while I am pen- 

 ning this (October), I find that my largest ears 

 give two gills, and 100 fair ears half a bushel 

 of shelled corn. The calculation is also pre- 

 dicated upon the supposition that there is no 

 deficiency in the number of stalks, a contin- 

 gency pretty sure on my method of planting. 



Hilli. bush. qt. 



1. An acre in hills, 4 feet apart each 



way, will produce ... 2722 42 16 



2. The same, 3 by 3 feet - - - 4840 75 20 



3. The same, 3 by 2; feet - - - 5808 93 28 



4. The same, in drills at 3 feet, plants 



6 stalks, 1 inch apart in the drills - 29,040 113 14 



5. The same in do., 2 rows in a drill, 6 



inches apart, and the plants 9 

 inches, and 3 feet 9 inches from 

 centre of drills, thus - - - 30,970 120 31 



6. The same in do., 3 rows in a drill, as 



above, 3 feet from centre of drills - 43,560 170 5 



The fifth mode I have tried. The ground 

 was highly manured, the crop twice cleaned, 

 and the entire acre gathered and weighed ac- 

 curately the same day. The product in ears 

 was 103 baskets, each 84 Ibs. nett, and 65 Ibs. 

 over. The last basket was shelled and mea- 

 sured, which showed a product on the acre of 

 118 bushels 10 quarts. I gathered at the rate 

 of more than 100 bushels the acre from four 

 rods planted in the third method last summer, 

 the result ascertained in the most accurate 

 manner. Corn shrinks about 20 per cent, 

 after it is cribbed. The sixth mode is the one 

 by which the Messrs. Pratt, of Madison county 

 obtained the prodigious crop of 170 bushels 

 per acre, the largest crop on record. These 

 gentlemen, I am told, are of opinion that the 

 product of an acre may be increased to 200 

 bushels. 



I am told the Messrs. Pratt, above alluded 

 to, used seven bushels of seed to the acre, the 

 plants being subsequently reduced to the requi- 

 site number. (BueFs Farmers' Instructer.) See 

 also PLANTER'S TABLE. 



According to the mode usually adopted in 

 Pennsylvania, and other States in which the 

 high-growing varieties of corn are planted, the 



cornhills will average a distance of 4 by 3 feet, 

 which gives 3,600 hills to the acre, and allowing 

 2 stalks to each hill, this makes 7,200 stalks per 

 acre. In more northern situations where they 

 are compelled to rely upon the quick-maturing 

 varieties, the lowness of the stalks admit of 

 closer planting, the hills averaging about 3 by 



feet apart, with 4 stalks per hill, by which 

 means an acre is made to contain 5,808 hills, 

 and no less than 23,232 stalks every stalk, in 

 a good season and with proper tillage, yielding 

 a good ear. 



Sugar from Maize. Every one familiar with 

 Indian corn in its growth, must have observed 

 the very great sweetness of the juice exuding 

 from the green stalks, when broken or cut 

 This, together with the great resemblance 

 between the true sugar-cane and maize, af- 

 forded ample ground for believing that sugar 

 could be procured from its juice. But whether 

 this can be manufactured with profit, still re- 

 mains to be fully demonstrated. Partial ex- 

 periments have afforded favourable results, 

 among which the following may be mentioned. 

 The juice of maize contains as much, if not a 

 larger proportion of sugar than that of the 

 sugar-cane. This sugar is precisely similar 

 in its crystallizing and other properties to that 

 of the cane. 



The attention of scientific investigators has 

 for some years been directed to this subject, 

 and it has been regarded as an important dis- 

 covery that the removal of the shoots forming 

 the rudiments of the ears, before these have 

 had time to fill, has caused the stalks to retain 

 all their saccharine matter at an advanced 

 stage of their growth. Very recently this has 

 been contested. At a recent meeting of the 

 French Academy, the distinguished philoso- 

 pher, M. Biot, read the report of a committee, 

 which paper contained the following state- 

 ments : Of the corn stalks experimented upon, 

 the ears had been removed from one portion, 

 and left to grow on others. The juice obtained 

 from the stalks which had been castrated, 

 yielded 12 per cent, of sugar ; that expressed 

 from the stalks on which the ears had been 

 permitted to grow, 13 per cent. It would 

 hence appear that the results of former experi- 

 ments showing great apparent advantages from 

 castration, were fallacious, the operation being 

 rather injurious than otherwise. The rapidity 

 with which maize attains its growth, admits of 

 its being removed from the soil sufficiently 

 early to give place to a winter crop. This, in 

 France, is reckoned among the great advan- 

 tages it has over the sugar-beet, for which it is 

 proposed as a substitute. In those countries 

 where the climate is not sufficiently warm to 

 bring the grain of Indian corn to perfect matu- 

 rity, such as England and Northern France, it 

 is probable that the plant might be brought 

 sufficiently forward to admit of the manufac- 

 ture of sugar. Mr. Webb, of Wilmington, 

 Delaware, has made some interesting experi- 

 ments upon this subject, which are highly 

 worthy of attention. (See Farmer's Cabinet, 

 1842, and Ellsworth's Report, 1843.) The re- 

 sults afford reasons for believing that the 

 manufacture of sugar from maize may be ad- 

 vantageously carried on in the United States, 

 38 757 



