124 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the Neic England Fanner. 

 CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. 



Mr. Cole : A field of stout corn, with lusty ears 

 6tanding out in every direction, has always been a 

 pleasing si>;bt to mc; and it has been rather a matter 

 of pride with mo, to grow about as good com as 

 any body. I now propose to give you an account of 

 my m,niagoment of two fields of this grain ; and 

 should your patience tire with the particularity of 

 ray details, I must remark that I am often obliged to 

 lay aside that which I read upon farming, as of no 

 practical use to me, because of the absence of details 

 important for mc to know. 



I shall first mention a field of ten acres, that had 

 lain to grass four years, and the soil of which is a 

 warm, sandy loam. It was nicely ploughed to the 

 depth of nine inches, in November. The manure 

 was drawn on to the land in the fall, winter, and 

 early spring, and placed in large heaps to prevent 

 evaporation, and at convenient distances for again 

 loading it into carts for spreading. One heap of 

 forty loads was of muck from the barn-yard, upon 

 which the cows had been yarded nights through 

 the summer ; other heaps were of muck, turf, and 

 scrapings of various sorts, thrown to the hogs, and 

 by them worked over ; others were a compost of two 

 parts muck to one of horse or cattle manure ; and 

 the last was sixty loads of muck, composted with 

 six hogsheads of fresh lime, of seven bushels each, 

 mixed in August before planting. 



In May, these heaps were deposited over the field 

 in smaller heaps, for the purpose of spreading, and 

 at the rate of thirty loads per acre. The loads would 

 average about thiity-fivc bushels each. The com- 

 post was evenly spread on the inverted furrows, and 

 at the same time a heavy hinge-harrow was started 

 lengthwise of the furrows, going several times in a 

 place, and then across the furrows, until the soil and 

 manure were perfectly pulverized and mii>gled to 

 the depth of three or four inches. I harrow plant- 

 ing ground as much again as fai-mcrs in general do, 

 and find my account in it too ; for the extra fine 

 tilth thus obtained, makes much easier and better 

 work of planting and the first hoeing, besides con- 

 tributing to the rapid growth of the young corn. 



The liild was next marked out in rows, north and 

 eouth, and east and west, at three and a half feet 

 apart each way. Much care Avas Tisod to keep 

 straight rows both ways, in order that the horse and 

 cultivator might afterwards work the crop with 

 the best execution. If rows are straight, one can 

 ehavc the weeds, and stir the ground close up to the 

 hills with the cultivator, leaving little for the hand- 

 hoc to do. Besides, I perfectly abhor the sight of 

 crooked corn-rows. Three and a half feet is prettj' 

 wide planting ; but my corn is a large sort, and it 

 will cover the grotmd at that distance apart, giving 

 larger cai's, as well as standing a drought longer than 

 if planted nearer. I am suspicious of the reasoning by 

 which the conclusion is arrived at, that close plant- 

 ing obviates the effects of drought ; for each stalk, 

 in seeking to perfect itself, draws on tlic soil for its 

 duo amount of moisture, and the demand is in this 

 respect greater than that by evaporation. 



In planting the corn, six to eight kernels were avcU 

 8cattca-ed in each hill. I find that corn ears heavier, 

 if well spread in the hill, than if thrown down into a 

 heap, one kernel on the top of another. As the soil 

 was a light sandy loam, the seed was covered about 

 three inches deep. I have had my corn fail to come 

 up well for want of sufTicicnt covering. If a dry 

 spell succeeds planting, the corn will find more 

 moisture to set it growing if well covered; and 

 again, if a frost succeeds, which is not unusual with 

 me, the little tender plants will not bo injured per- 



manently, if the planting has been deep ; but if it 

 has been shallow, their vitality is destroyed. The 

 seed was planted dry, with the belief, after a trial of 

 various steeps, that it is as well so as any way. 



As soon as the corn was up sufficiently to folloAV 

 the rows well, the field was worked with a horse and 

 cultivator, twice in a row, both ways, and the hills 

 were dressed with the hoe. A week or so after, the 

 horse and cultivator were again used, both ways ; 

 and so again, in another week ; and again, for the 

 la>t time, the earth, this time, being slightly raised 

 with the hoe, making the hills broad and flat. The 

 stalks were also thinned to four or five in a hill. 

 Nothing more was done till harvest, and nothing 

 more needed to be done. The ploughing had been 

 nicely executed the fall previous ; in the spring the 

 surface was clean of grass or weeds, and brought to 

 fine tilth with the harrow ; the manure was suffi- 

 ciently fermented to destroy the seeds of weeds con- 

 tained therein ; the frequent use of the cultivator 

 kept the surface clean, and so mellow that the young 

 corn came rapidly forward ; and soon after the second 

 hoeing, the ground was completely covered with the 

 crop, and all weeds were choked down. 



My cornfield was a handsome sight, on account 

 of its perfect uniformity of luxuriance. It yielded 

 me seventj' two-bushel baskets full of ears to the 

 acre. Premiums are frequently taken for single 

 acres, yielding double the corn that any one acre of 

 mine did ; but whenever I can grow ten acres of 

 corn, averaijinrj seventy two-bushel baskets of ears 

 per acre, I say to myself, that is doing very well. 



Last year I planted a field of two acres to corn, in 

 driUs. The preparation of the ground did not differ 

 materially from that of the ten acre field just de- 

 ^cribed, From some experiments in drill planting 

 tried on a small scale, in previous years, I was in- 

 duced to think that on good land, well manured, 

 corn would yield rather more in drills than in hills. 

 This lot being one where these conditions were all 

 right, I marked it out in rows three and a half feet 

 apart, and dropped the seed in the rows nine inches 

 apart, which gave just the same number of stalks to 

 the acre as if I had planted in hills three and a half 

 feet apart each way, four kernels in a hill. The seed 

 was dropped by hand, and covered with the hoc ; and 

 it took about twice as long as it would to have 

 planted in hills three and a half feet apart. The 

 corn was worked with a horse and cultivator at six 

 several times, in quick succession, and dressed twice 

 with the hoe. As the rows were very straiglit, the 

 cultivator was worked up close to the stalks each 

 time, and the hoeing was not much, if any, more 

 laborious than usual. 



As I was absent from home during the whole of 

 harvest time, no measures were taken to ascertain 

 the exact yield of this field. 13ut myself and others 

 were well persuaded, upon comparison of the corn 

 growing in drills with that in hills, on equally good 

 ground, that the yield of the former would exceed 

 that of the latter by at least fifteen bushels per acre. 

 The stalks standing singly, nine inches apart, had 

 each a better chance at air, moisttirc, and pasture ; 

 the ears in consequence grew larger, and more of the 

 stalks bore two cars, than would have been the case 

 if planted in hills. On the whole, I was well pleased 

 with this crop, and intend, this coming season, to 

 plant five acres in drills. 



While upon my present subject, I will say a word 

 about saving seed corn. All experienced farmers are 

 aware that the productiveness and early ripening of 

 any kind of corn, depends very much upon the man- 

 ner of selecting the seed. I have a long-eared vari- 

 ety, which I have been planting and improving for 

 some ten or twelve years ; and although during that 

 time I have tried, 1 presume, a dozen other sorts, I 

 give the preference to the first-named sort. "What- 



