REPORT ON CORN. 



Two of the three pieces of corn I submit for your examination and 

 award were raised on shares for Messrs. W. T. Westcott and L. D. 

 Hills, and I offer my experience as illustrating one plan bj- which a 

 poor farmer can find employment for himself and team without spread- 

 ing his home-made manure over an unprofitably large area ; while the 

 capitalist improves his land and gets his corn and stover at a reason- 

 able rate without the necessity of constant personal supervision. 



The first lot, consisting of two acres, is owned by L. D. Hills ; 

 and last year, with $36 worth of fertilizer, I raised a crop of corn on 

 it worth $96.67. This year I took it on the same terms, viz. : Mr. 

 Hills to furnish $36 worth of fertilizer and to receive half the crop 

 of ears and fodder, husked and delivered at his barn. I have not 

 yet finished husking, but a square rod selected by the committee in 

 September, and husked October 31st, yielded 33 lbs. of ears and 30 

 lbs of stalks. This is at the rate of 75 ^ bushels of shelled corn, 

 allowing 70 lbs. of ears to the bushel and 2 tons, 800 lbs. of stalks 

 per acre. 



The second piece containing three acres is the property of W. S. 

 Westcott. Most of it had been sown down with oats and grass seed 

 one and two years before, but the grass seed had not taken very well, 

 and its place was supplied by a healthy growth of sorrel. As this 

 piece was in somewhat better heart than the last, I agreed to raise 

 the crop for $16 worth of fertilizer per acre ; but the amount actually 

 supplied by Mr. Westcott for the three acres was $52.85 worth. A 

 square rod selected and husked by the committee at the same time as 

 the first piece yielded 35 lbs. of corn and 31 lbs. of stover. This is 

 at the rate of 80 bushels of corn and 2 tons, 960 lbs. of stalks per 

 acre. At the second hoeing, July 16, I sowed, on about two acres 

 of the piece, three pecks of timothy and 20 lbs. of red clover. Mr. 

 Westcott also sent me 200 lbs. of superphosphate, which I sowed on 

 about half an acre. The catch of grass seed was reasonably satis- 

 factory on the whole piece, and where the superphosphate was sown 



