70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



which corn roots exteud below the surface. The remark to 

 which I refer is on the sixty-second page of the " Agriculture of 

 Massachusetts " for 1864, where he says : " I have examined 

 that matter myself, and I have*found the roots about two inches 

 under the surface. They do not run to a very great depth." 



My belief was that they extended much deeper, and to satisfy 

 my own curiosity in the matter, I also have examined it to some 

 extent. 



While ploughing a few days since, where my corn grew the 

 present year, I found corn roots, distinctly discernible by the 

 naked eye, at the depth of a foot, and the roots were to be seen 

 in every particle of soil as deep as I could plough, and I am 

 confirmed in the belief that the roots of corn will penetrate as 

 deep as you will loosen the earth, and place manure for them to 

 feed upon. 



There are many subjects connected with the raising and 

 securing a field of corn, which the committee do not propose to 

 enlarge upon at this time, such as the best kinds of manure, 

 quantity, time and manner of application, the right time and 

 the best manner of putting the seed into the ground, the most 

 economical method of harvesting, whether by cutting the 

 stalks in the usual manner, or by cutting at the ground and 

 stooking. These questions, and such as these, are capable of 

 almost indefinite enlargement. If, by anything suggested in 

 this report, any young farmer or old one, should be led to a 

 wiser expenditure of labor, or a richer harvest than heretofore, 

 the committee will feel amply rewarded. 



Solon Carter, Chairman. 



Statement of Joseph Goodrich. 



Corn. — The soil on which I raised my corn is rough clay 

 loam. In 1863 the land was pastured. In 1865 I raised corn^ 

 using fifteen loads compost from the barn cellar. 



For'the present crop, I ploughed in April, from six to eight 

 inches deep, furrowed with plough, one way, four feet apart, 

 putting a small shovelful of cellar compost in each hill. I 

 planted the first week in May, in rows, one way, about three feet 

 apart, with seven quarts of seed, (called Carter corn,) to the 

 acre. Tlic first week of September the stalks were cut, and the 

 corn harvested the third week, having two and a quarter tons of 

 stover. 



