320 



Experiments in the Culture of Indian Corn. 



Vol. IX. 



tx5 the acre, put on after the ploug-hing'. The 

 cost of production was as follows, reduced 

 to acres : 



To ploughing and harrowing one acre, $1 50 



25 loads of manure, G i!5 



drilling in seed 4 days 3 oo 



two hoei ngs, 3 daj-s' work each 4 50 



cultivating, 50 



harvesting (small ears) 4 days, 3 00 



The product was fifty-five bushels to the 

 acre, at 4s.=27 50—18 75=^8 75 for the 

 use of the land ; or the corn cost -$0 34 per 

 bushel, besides the use of the land. 



Experiment No. 6. — The remainder of 

 the ground was planted in hills three feet 

 by two feet, six kernels in the hill, with a 

 top dressing of twenty-five loads of half 

 rotted manure to the acre. The cost of 

 production was as follows, reduced to acres. 



To ploughing and harrowing one acre, $1 50 



25 loads of manure 6 25 



2 days' work planting, 

 4^ days' hoeing, . .. 



cultivating, 



3r days' harvesting, 



$15 56 



The product was sixty-five and one-half 

 bushels to the acre, at 4s.= $'32 75—15 56 

 = 17 19, for the use of the land; or the corn 

 cost, besides the use of the land, SO 23.7 

 per bushel. 



It is proper to say, that the cost of labour 

 for such small parcels, is a difficult thing to 

 determine with perfect accuracy. 



The stalks being of such equal value upon 

 each piece, I have supposed it unnecessary 

 to attempt any separate measurement; nei- 

 ther have I kept any separate account of the 

 cost of the seed, for the same reason. The 

 whole was plastered, but the expense being 

 so slight, and costing the same for each 

 piece, no account has been made of it. The 

 manure is charged at its full value in each 

 case, tliough the land is greatly benefited for 

 future purposes. Hardly a quarter of its 

 cost is justly chargeable to this crop. In 

 No. 2, we have an example, in which the 

 effects of the manure are easily traced 

 throuo-h many years. The last manuring 

 this piece had was in 1837 — and it now pro- 

 duced 60^ bushels to the acre. No charge 

 bemg made against it for manure, it appears 

 to be profitable above every other experi- 

 ment. But if the account could be stated 

 for a period of years for each piece of land 

 as we have it for this year, I doubt not the 

 manure would be found to pay fully all its 

 cost. 



These experiments were made chiefly to 

 determine hoio thick corn should be planted 

 —what is the most convenient form, to place 



the plants — and whether the manure should 

 be rotted and applied to the surface, or 

 ploughed under unfermented. The conclu- 

 sion that now appears likely to be arrived at 

 is, that hills three feet by three feet apart, 

 put in rows, so that a cultivator can be used 

 both ways, is the most convenient form for 

 cultivation, and that six kernels put into 

 each hill, will make the corn thick enough. 

 I counted, and made examinations that sat- 

 isfied me, that at harvest my hills averaged 

 five stalks to the hill — no thinning was done, 

 except by insects and accidents. That this 

 is not too thick, is proven by experiment No. 

 6, where the hills were three feet by two 

 feet, the product being 65^ bushels to the 

 acre, and with one-half the manure that was 

 put on No. 1, which was three feet by three 

 feet apart, and the product only five bushels 

 more to the acre. In fact, I believe that 

 more bushels with the same manuring would 

 have been raised with the hills two by three 

 feet, than three by three feet, but the extra 

 labour of planting, hoeing and harvesting, 

 will more than counterbalance the gain. 



The labour required to plough under un- 

 fermented manure in any considerable quan- 

 tity, is so great, and its great bulk compared 

 with its value, making it so expensive to 

 draw, and the fact that it is not felt until 

 late in the season — and that the next plough- 

 ing must be deeper, in order to bring it all 

 up and mix it with the soil — are great ob- 

 jections to its use. That the next plough- 

 ing must be deeper, in order to bring up all 

 the manure, is evident from the considera- 

 tion that every time the soil is saturated 

 with water it must sink deeper, unless it is 

 held up by some stratum that is impervious 

 to water. If the contents of the barn-yard 

 are piled up in the spring as soon as the 

 frost is out, and covered with gypsum so as 

 to prevent the escape of any of its gases, 

 and turned and re-piled at midsummer, and 

 again covered with gypsum, the seeds of 

 weeds will be destroyed, and the manure 

 will be entirely rotted in time to put on the 

 corn the next spring. The manure used in 

 -these experiments was but half rotted, in 

 consequence of neglecting to turn and re- 

 pile it. From the decrease of the bulk, the 

 expense of handling and mixing the manure 

 with the earth, will be so much lessened as 

 fully to compensate for all the expense of 

 piling and rotting it. 



The cost of the gypsum, too, will be but 

 slight, as but little is required ; merely 

 enough to whiten the heap. The corn will 

 then have its stimulus at the time it needs 

 it most; and but few weeds will spring up 

 from the manure. All these considerations 

 lead me to prefer fine manure to coarse. 



