27 



it was eminently so. By repeated careful experiments, I liave found 

 the following to be about the expense of labor in raising a good crop, 

 say 50 bushels of corn on an acre : 



To ploughing, $2 25 



Harrowing, 75 



Marking, 60 



Seed corn (1 peck), 25 



Planting, 50 



Applying fertilizer, 75 



Harrowing, 50 



Line and lining, 50 



Cultivating four times, 2 00 



Hoeing and thinning, 2 00 



Hoeing second time, 1 50 



Cutting and binding of stalks, 2 50 



Husking and cribbing, 5 00 



Drawing in stalks, 75 



119 85 

 I quote the following from a former report: "The system which 

 I have adopted after much thought and experiment has succeeded to 

 my satisfaction ; and I confidently recommend it where commercial 

 fertilizers or small quantities of thoroughl}' rotten compost are used. 

 Urst 1 i)lough and harrow thoroughly, then mark both ways with an 

 instrument drawn by two horses, consisting of a plank with a pole 

 and four runners, on which I ride. This leaves the field cut up by 

 furrows, one to two inches deep, into squares of one yard ; and at 

 each corner I plant five kernels of early yellow corn, with Macomber's 

 Improved Corn and Bean Planter, which plants and covers the seed 

 about an inch deeper than the bottom of the furrow. With this 

 implement, a man can plant, in the best possible manner five acres 

 in a day. After the whole field is planted, I scatter the fertilizer, so 

 as to cover about a foot square, directly over the seed, and then 

 harrow the whole with a smoothing harrow. I thus secure three 

 important advantages. The corn is planted in check rows, and can 

 be cultivated both ways. The fertilizer is mixed with the soil, direct- 

 ly over the seed, to which its elements are carried by the first rain ; 

 and lastly, the land being harrowed a few days after planting, the 

 corn gets a start of tlie weeds, and can afterwards be kept clean with 

 but little hand hoeing, and that of the very easiest kind." 



