MAIZE. 275 



Dollars. Cents. 



Fifty bushels, at seventy cents . . . 35 00 



Cost of production . , . 5 82 1-2 



Gain . . . , 29 18 1-2 



or 6 Is. per acre profit, 



In Northern Ohio and iu Illinois the cost of production averages 

 twenty cents per bushel. 



The mode of cultivation in Connecticut and the New England 

 States has been thus described to me by Mr. L. Durand, an ex- 

 perienced agriculturist : If the soil selected is light and mellow, 

 it should be ploughed and subsoiled in the spring, first spreading 

 on the coarse unfermented manure which is to be ploughed in. For 

 marking the rows for planting, a "corn marker" may be used to 

 advantage. It is made by taking a piece of scantling, three inches 

 square and ten to twelve feet long, with teeth of hickory or white 

 oak inserted at distances of two to four feet, according to the 

 width designed for the rows. Then an old pair of waggon-thills 

 and a pair of old plough-handles are put to it, and your marker 

 is done. With a good horse to draw this implement, the ground 

 may be made ready for planting very rapidly. It is better to 

 leave the ground flat than to ridge it, for the latter mode has no 

 advantage, except when the ground is wet. The difference in the 

 two modes is chiefly this : When the ground is ridged, the corn 

 being planted between the edges of the furrows, it comes imme- 

 diately in contact with the manure, springs up and grows rapidly 

 the fore part of the season. When the ground is left flat, and 

 the manure turned under the furrows, the corn will often look 

 feeble at first, and in growth will frequently be much behind that 

 on the ridges ; and the inference early in the season is, that the 

 ridged ground will give the best crop, but as soon as the roots of 

 the corn on the flat ground get hold of the manure (say about 

 the 20th of July), the corn will shoot rapidly a-head, and the full 

 force of the manure will be given to the stalk just at the time of 

 forming the grain. Corn cultivated in this way, if the soil is 

 deeply tilled, will often keep green, while that on ridges is 

 dried up. 



Many farmers, at planting, shell the corn off the cob, and plant 

 it dry. Others soak it a few days in warm water. But when 

 the seed is only treated in this way, it is very likely to be pulled 

 up by birds and injured by worms. The best way to prevent this 

 is to first soak the corn in a strong solution of saltpetre ; then 

 take a quantity of tar, and having warmed it over a fire, pour it 

 on the corn, and stir with a stick or paddle till the grain is all 

 smeared with the tar ; then add gypsum or plaster till the corn 

 will separate freely, and no birds will touch the grain. 



The time of planting, in the United States, varies with the sea- 

 son and the section of the country. In New England it may 

 generally be planted from the 15th to the 25th May. Where 

 the ground is flat, a light harrow or a cultivator is much better to 



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