296 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



market, the work should be done in the neat- ] 

 est possible manner, and all of luiiform fjual- 

 ity throii<i;hoiit. Great loss is often incurred ; 

 by ne<ile(;t in these respects. Slovenly ])ack- j 

 ages of pood and bad (jualities intermixed, I 

 are difficult to sell, while neat y)ackaires of 

 uniform jjood (juality are taken without haj;- 

 glinj^ at much better ])rices. As an illustra- 

 tion of the working of these two ways of 

 doing things, I will (juote the words of one of 

 your editors to me to-day that "over in the j 

 market there is butter sold every week as soon | 

 as received for .^l.io per pound, while the 

 general price is from thirty-hve to forty cents 

 per pound. 



Those having to pay freight long distances 

 on bulky commodities cannot afford to send a 

 poor article, as the expense of getting a poor 

 article to market is the same as with a good 

 one. The method of baling was much im- 

 -proved during the war, and the improvement 

 may now be in use. It consisted in compress- 

 ing an ordinary bale into one-half its or- 

 dinary bulk. Tliis end was also attained by 

 the use of the Beater liay Press which heat 

 the hay together as it was pitched into the 

 press — thus getting twice as many pounds in 

 the same bulk as was usual by the old pro- 

 cess. The work done by these presses is per- 

 fect. I saw a bale of hay in New York that 

 was i)acked by one of them which was sawed 

 in two and on the ends engraven the name of 

 the press with as much distinctness as if cut 

 in wood. I should think it would be difficult 

 for water to penetrate it. These presses are 

 more expensive than the old ones. A neigh- 

 borhood might combine and own one for its 

 own use, or the same principle be adopted as is 

 common with threshing machines, — the own- 

 ers doing the baling for a fixed price per ton. 

 It is possible and highly probable that hay 

 •will be in the near future baleil in the fields 

 as soon as properly cured. I am also of the 

 opinion that it will not require as much curing 

 put u{) at once into compact bales as if put 

 into bulk in stack or mow. It would save 

 much in weight and much in quality and value 

 to the consumer. K. O. 



April 8, 1871. 



For the Xnc Kngland Farmer. 



IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEED. — CUL- 

 TIVATION OF CORN. 



I notice in the FAiotKU of 2.")th inst. a com- 

 munication from K. O. on the importance 

 of good seed, which is a subject that ought to 

 interest all Farmers. I shall pass over his 

 remarks on beets, for that is a crop which I 

 have not raised to any extent. But having 

 given considerable attention to raising corn I 

 agree with him generally in cultivating that 

 crop. First in regard to seed. There are 

 many varieties of corn raised in New Kng- 

 land, some of which will yield sixty to eighty 

 bushels to the acre, according to the season ; 



and other varieties which are in favor with 

 many farmers scarcely half as much, with 

 nearly the same cultivation. 



j\Iany farmers plant the old varieties that 

 they have raised for a generation, and it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to persuade them that their 

 crnj)s are not al)Out as good as anyl)ody's, 

 though their yield is only thirty-five to forty- 

 five bushels to the acre, rarely fifty bushels. 

 They object to a large variety because, as 

 they say, it has a great cob and it will not 

 get ripe ; that it makes a great growth of 

 stover, exhausts the land, &c. Many of them 

 have not learnt that corn stover is worth 

 nearly as much per ton as English hay to 

 feed to stock ; and that one acre of corn 

 stover of a yield of seventy-five bushels to 

 the acre will more than keep one 60')-pound 

 cow from the time she goes to the barn in au- 

 tuum till the first of April, Avith two quarts 

 of shorts a day, and give milk and keep in 

 good condition, but some have learnt it. 



jNIany prefer a smaller kind of corn because 

 it has a small cob, the ears are well filled out, 

 and it makes nice meal, when we all know 

 who have tried it that it is only the large va- 

 rieties that will produce a large crop, while 

 the smaller varieties will only produce a 

 moderate crop with the same cultivation, and 

 the stover from it will not more than half 

 keep a cow through the winter. 



K. O. is correct in regard to the yield to 

 the hill. Four ears is as much as the large 

 varieties will yield and four and a fraction of 

 the smaller varieties. Of the lai-ge varieties 

 200 ears will make a full bushel of corn, but 

 of the smaller varieties 300, or more, are re- 

 quired. 



K. O. says he planted a field of 25 acres 

 heavily manured. The term heavily ma*- 

 nured is not sufficiently definite for practical 

 purpose. It may be thirty loads to the acre, 

 or ten or twenty more, which would make 

 quite a difrerence in the cost of the crop. 

 ]\Iy mode of cultivation is to si)read fifteen 

 loads of a thirty-five bushel wagon to the acre 

 of pure stable manure, and put a moderate 

 shovelful in the hill, requiring about twenty- 

 five loads in all. I do not think it econ- 

 omy to use more than twenty-five loads of ma- 

 nure to the acre. From my experience I con- 

 clude that not more than one bushel of corn or 

 other grain, or one hundred pounds of hay 

 would be added to the crop for every load of 

 manure above that amount. 



I furrow ."i feet each wa}', which makes 

 about twenty-five hills to the rod of land, and 

 with four ears to the hill I have a bushel of 

 corn for everj' two rods of land, making eighty 

 bushels to the acre. JNly yield List year was 

 seventy-five bushel, a little less than a bushel 

 of corn to two rods of land. I intend to 

 plant five kernels of seed to the hill to make 

 sure of four good stalks. But for some rea- 

 son my field did not have four full stalks to 

 the hill last year. 



