INDIAN CORN. 159 



satisfactory inference against the profitableness of this crop 

 can be drawn from the results of careless or superficial cul- 

 ture. 



We are happy to observe that the spirit of improvement 

 noticeable in other departments of agriculture has reached the 

 cultivation of corn ; that more inquiries arc made as to the 

 best methods of proceeding; that greater attention is paid to 

 the selection of seed — a very important point, and one that 

 hitherto has been much neglected; that the relative values of 

 different varieties are carefully considered ; that manure is 

 more generally spread and ploughed in, while the quantity is 

 increased and the quality improved ; that high hilling is more 

 discountenanced ; that frequent stirring of the land by the cul- 

 tivator and hoe is believed to be the surest preventive against 

 the effects of long-continued drought ; and that the old preju- 

 dice in favor of the widest distance between the rows is abat- 

 ing. The consequence is, that greater crops are raised from 

 the same extent of land, and the question of profitableness is 

 brought nearer to a definite solution. Some of the most rigid- 

 ly conservative farmers admit that probably the highest results 

 are not yet attained, and that the time may come when, with 

 better knowledge applied to the culture of corn, eighty bushels 

 may be grown upon the acre that now yields forty or fifty. It 

 will then be found that no more profitable field crop is raised 

 in New England. 



J. M. Merrick. 



Statement of B. N. Sawin. 



The field entered by ine for premium measures one acre and 

 three-quarters. Though lying in one lot, yet for purposes of 

 cultivation it may be considered as divided into two parts, one 

 containing an acre, the other three-quarters of an acre. The 

 acre lot was in corn in 1853. In December last I carted on 

 to it three and one-half cords of compost manure from the 

 barn cellar, and ploughed it in. In May I carted on three and 

 one-half cords of unfermented manure, spread and ploughed it 

 in, putting no manure in the hill. The other lot was ploughed, 



