170 



TITE GENESEE FARlfER. 



sion of crops of corn, oats, barley, wheat, timothy 

 gras3, sorghum, &c., in any sense merits the name 

 of a "rotiition of crops." So far as enriching the 

 land is concerned, he might just as well grow a 

 ci'op of wheat every year. 



(c) We did not recommend sowing cloTer with 

 oats. "We were speaking of barley. Clover sel- 

 dom takes well with oats, but will do well when 

 eown with barley. 



(d) Our esteemed correspondent is undoubtedly 

 right on this point. 



TVe trust that this subject will receive the at- 

 tention its importance deserves. "Will not our cor- 

 respondents favor us with their views. 



WHAT DOES IT COST TO PRODUCE A BUSH. OF C0EN1 



At a Farmers' Club in Chester county, Penn., 

 the question was asked : " "What is the cost to a 

 farmer of a bushel of corn ?" The Secretary fur- 

 nishes the following abstract of the discussion for 

 tiie Ix&rmantown, Telegraph : 



" Some objected to this question, because, as they 

 gaid, the price would vary with the soil, cultiva- 

 tion, season, &c. The President, in answer to this, 

 remarked that the ne j)lus ultra of good farming 

 ■was to raise the produce at the lowest possible 

 cost, and what he wanted to know was what this 

 cost was. 



" The Treasurer said that in order to answer this 

 question, the members must, in addition to the 

 cost, give their mode of cultivation and previous 

 treatment of the field, and that he had kept a reg- 

 ular account of the amount of work, &c., ex- 

 > pended upon the corn crop, and found that last 

 year his corn cost him twenty-eight and three- 

 quarters cents per bushel, after allowing six per 

 cent, for interest on the land. His plan was to 

 plow the ground early in the spring to the depth 

 of eight or nine inches, and, after harrowing well, 

 planted in squares, four feet one way and three 

 feet six inches the other way. Always dropped 

 five grains to the hill and thinned out to three. 

 Generally applied plaster to the hill about the time 

 the corn was coming up. The last crop was hauled 

 two miles to the railroad, and owing to th*. cut- 

 worm acd dry weather was not as large as usual ; 

 the average cost of his corn crop for the sjx years 

 previous to the one above mentioned was twenty- 

 two and one-half cents per bushel, and the average 

 yield fifty eight and three-quarter bushels per acre. 



" Another member had found the average cost 

 of his corn crop for the last five years to be twenty- 

 four .ind one-half cents per bushel, and tlio average 

 jield to be fifty-six and one-half busliols per acre. 

 His plan was to plow as much as possible of his 

 corn ground in the fall or winter, though he sel- 

 dom succeeded in getting more than half of it done. 

 After being w^ell harrowed, it was i)nt in with a 

 drill, four feet from row to row, and about one 

 foot from stalk to stalk. His farm was purchased 

 five years ago for $110 per acre, and his neighbor's, 

 who made Uie first Btatemeut, cost $115 per acre, 



so that in point of value there was little if any 

 difference in yield. 



"Of the eleven estinrates made, the highest was 

 twenty-eiglit and three-quarters, and t)ie lowest 

 (which was .^econd-crop corn), was twenty-one and 

 one-])alf cents per bush«l. giving an average cost 

 of twenty-tive and one-eiglith. If we leave the 

 second-crop corn out of the quostion, and consider 

 tliat only wliich was raised on tlie sod, (which is 

 no more tliaa fair.) we have an average, from ten 

 estimates, of twenty-six and three-quarter cents 

 per bushel, as the ' cost to the farmer of one bushel 

 of corn.' 



"Taking tUe ten cases together, the average 

 selling price was fifty-seven and one-lialt cents per 

 bushel, leaving a profit of thirty and three-quarter 

 cents. One member stated that in 1860 he ob- 

 tained about ninety-one cents per bushel for a por- 

 tion of his ccyn by feeding it to his cattle for the 

 Philadeliihia market, and in 1861 he got seventeen 

 csnts per bushel for about the same amount sold in 

 the same way." 



Returns of Dairying. — Mr. Phineas Field, of 

 Hadley, Mass., was reported at a recent meeting 

 of the Russelville Farmers' Club, of that town, to 

 have obtained the following returns from nine 

 cows for one year, including two farrow cows 

 milked four weeks: Butter, 1,740 pounds, worth, 



at 22 cents per pound, $3S2.80; calves, $35; milk 

 given to the hogs, $75 ; total, $494.80 ; making 

 the product of each cow $54.63. K. M. Montagub 

 had a grade Shorthorn cow six years old, which 

 had been milked to within three weeks of the time 

 of calving; she came in on the 17th of December ; 

 the calf was fatteil, and at four weeks five days 

 old weighed 165 pounds. On the 27th day of 

 January the milk was set by itself, in order to find 

 out the quantity of butter she would make for one 

 week. The whole amount of milk given during 

 the week was 222 pounds, or an average of 31f 

 pounds per day. From this there was made 9 

 pounds 10 ounces of butter, which gives 1 pound 

 and 6 ounces each d.-iy. The cow was fed on hay 

 and corn-fodder, with two quarts of Indian meal, 

 and two quarts of rye shorts, with tour quarts of 

 turnips per day. 



■^» ^ 



Sheep-Killing Dogs. — A correspondent of the 

 Ohio Valley Farmer gives the following hint^ 

 which may be nseful to some of our readers : 



" If a sheep is killed or crippled by a dog, the 

 night thereafter house up all your sheep and your 

 favorite dogs that you would not have killed ; 

 then retnove the dead slieep out of reach of 

 dogs, first cutting out the liver, or other lean 

 part of it, into which put strychnine a little more 

 than the size of a large grain of wheat ; leave that 

 in place of the sheep, and my word for it, next 

 morning you will be almost certain to find the 

 guilty dog near by. If the first night sliould fail, 

 try agflin ; he will be sure to come back as soon as 

 he is hungry. Again, if a sheep is only worried 

 and not killed, any other lean meat will do in place 

 of mutton. By this method yon will bo sure to 

 get the guilty dog ; when by the old method of 

 hunting him up, it is very doubtful if you do." 



