41 



be regretted because that which is best adapted to this crop, — <• 

 barnyard and pigsty manure, — is produced at great cost, and but 

 few farmers have more of it than they need for this very purpose. 



When guano is used with corn, the necessity of the finest pul-r 

 verization of the soil is obvious, that the manure may come into 

 the closest possible contact with all the soil ; and thus while more 

 nutriment is drawn from the atmosphere, less is Avasted from that 

 which we apply to the earth. When we remember that plough- 

 ing is the primary step in the whole business, and that it is of the 

 first importance that the air, and the rain, and the heat of the 

 sun may thoroughly and easily find access to the soil, — that crops 

 having tubers may have ample room and facilities of expansion, 

 and that corn will grow nearly as far beneath the surface as 

 above it, if permitted, it will not be easy to over-estimate the 

 attention that should be given to this subject. 



We have heard of a singular experiment in the choice of seed, 

 A farmer planted only the corn from the small end of the ears, 

 choosing such as were Avell filled out ; then only from the middle 

 of the ears ; then only from the big ends. After ten years, he 

 found that in seven years of the ten, the crop from the small ends 

 was the largest and best. 



During the past season, the corn-planter has come consider- 

 ably into use in this county. One of our friends finds it satisfac- 

 tory on mellow, Avell-tilled land, dropping the corn evenly. Ano- 

 ther says, that in some hills he had eight or ten grains, in others 

 one or two. Upon inquiry, we found his land was very rocky 

 and uneven. One farmer says : " I regard the introduction of 

 the corn-planter among the most valuable improvements in the 

 culture of this crop. This machine immensely economizes expense 

 and time." It is obvious, however', that it can be used to most 

 advantage on smooth, well-tilled land, and where the manure is 

 ploughed in. Is not this an argument for bringing land into such 

 a condition ? 



When for any reason a farmer is convinced that he may with 

 safety and profit leave the beaten track and lay out a new path 

 for himself, he usually encounters the ridicule of his neighbors. 

 Yet the latter are constantly receiving good impressions, and 

 before they are aware of it, tliey are found practising the very 

 things which they condemn. Perhaps this is more apparent in 

 the corn crop than any other. It was asserted a few years ago 

 that it was impossible to raise a hundred bushels of corn to the 

 acre, by men of the greatest experience in farming. And when 

 the fact could no longer be denied, it was attributed to a combi- 

 nation of favorable circumstances, which might never occur again. 

 This year there are four fields in the town of Milton that yield 

 more than a hundred bushels each per acre, and one that has 

 produced, after the most apcurate test. of the Committee on Grain 

 G 



