20 



if not months, before filling and planting, to gain the benefit of the 

 snn and air on the new turned furrows. 



With my experience of fort}' years I have always succeeded in pro- 

 ducing a fair crop, and sometimes an extra good one, b}' plowing in, 

 six or seven inches deep, coarse barnyard manure with the turf of 

 two years growth, on land varying from moist, heavy, sandy loam to 

 that which is quite di'y and light. I also apply twenty-five bushels of 

 uuleached ashes strewed in the rows to the acre. 



My reason for this process is that the manure decomposes by na- 

 ture's slow and economical way, and is taken up by the soil and crop 

 in the months of July and August, when the corn needs it most. 



Again, the manure can be applied usually in the latter part of April, 

 is beneath the sod out of the way of machinery, in fitting and plant- 

 ing and after cultivation. The decomposition is slower and more 

 lasting for improvement of the soil for future crops. 



Harvesting corn deserves a few words of comment in closing this 

 Import. Of the many ways of harvesting, the latest way practiced by 

 many farmers is much the easiest way of handling a heavy crop. 

 Have a horse made by taking a pole ten feet long, put two legs in one 

 end and have the other end rest on the ground, put a cross pin about 

 two feet from the two legs, made about three feet long and to go in 

 and out easy, and you have your horse. 



Set up the horse where you want the stook, cutting as many rows 

 at once as you want in a row of stooks, setting-up as straight and even 

 around the cross pin as possible, tie the tops with straw firmly, pull 

 out the cross pin and pull along the horse for the next stook. Two 

 hands can work together with advantage with one horse. 



The husking or picking should be done in the field in the month of 

 October, binding the fodder with straw as fast as husked, if not dry 

 it can be set up again until it is ready to cart. This saves much 

 heavy handling and makes the labor comparatively light. 



James Comins, 

 Chairman of Committee on Field Crops. 



The acre of corn offered for your award is grown on a saud\', grav- 

 elly loam exhausted by successive crops raised and taken off without 

 adequate return. Last year it produced a small crop of oats ; but the 

 clover and grass seed which I sowed with the oats, though it started 

 well, failed for want of available nutriment. I plowed the piece, 



