146 [Assembly 



CORNELIUS T. SMITH'S 



Mode of raising Corn. 



I give you a statement of the manner which I pursued in raising 

 the corn I presented in competition for premium at the late fair of 

 the Institute. The land was stiiF sod of a sandy loam, which I 

 turned under by once plowing; about three days before I was ready 

 to plant, I harrowed it down and struck out my furrows, (so as not 

 to turn the sod or disturb it at all,) 3^ feet from centre to centre 

 each way, and put three grains of corn in each hill, which I wa- 

 tered and rolled in plaster before I planted; I put marl, out of the 

 sand stone quarry on about 20 rows of it, which made it grow much 

 faster than the other part of the field, (as I could see the difference 

 distinctly until the whole got ripe,) I put a handful of ashes, of wood 

 and coal mixed, on each hill. I gave it four plowings, the two 

 first very light, the two last deep, and also two hoeings, but did not 

 hill it up around the corn, and kept it clean from weeds; when it 

 was about a foot high, I put about a teanspoonful of plaster on each 

 hill, and as soon as the sets began to show themselves for the forma- 

 tion of the ears, I applied another teaspoonful of plaster on each 

 hill, to which I give the credit of the extraordinary yield of corn. 

 I planted 2f^ acres, of which I had 164 baskets full of ears of corn. 

 The basket measures 2g bushels, which makes 184 bushels of shelled 

 corn, or 368 bushels ears of corn. I also planted another field, 

 which I treated the same as the first, and the yield was nearly the 

 same. There was a difference, as this field was planted on corn 

 stubble, where we had corn the previous year. I give you a list of 

 the expenses below. 



C. T. SMITH. 



JVyack, Feb. 1, 1848. 



