490 APPENDIX. 



Great care should be taken in selecting not only those stalks that 

 have the greatest number of ears, but those that look most like corn 

 nice, trim, uniform, vigorous and healthy. Large over-grown stalks 

 are too gross and too sterile they cannot be made prolific. The result 

 of this method of saving seed, together with proper culture, has in- 

 creased my yield on the same six acres, in six years, from 20 to 7- r > 

 bushels per acre. 



Before treating of the soil, I will give an account of the actual loss 

 most farmers sustain in ''pulling fodder," "cutting tops," and letting 

 their corn dry up in the field before it is gathered. Fodder-pulling in- 

 jures the grain nearly 13 per cent, cutting tops 9 per cent., and by letting 

 the whole crop dry up in the field, it loses 20 per cent, of its ow 

 weight. So you see by this slip-shod way of treating the best and 

 surest crop we have we lose nearly 50 per cent, of it all. How shall 

 we sa've it then? you ask. In a very simple way. When fodder- 

 pulling time comes and the ears are well glazed, instead of taking tht 

 blades off, cut the stalks up close to the ground, and shock immedi- 

 ately in bunches the wind cannot twist or blow down. In this way the 

 fodder is all saved, and the stalk too. The husk is much better and 

 the corn loses nothing, but makes much better food, much better feed, 

 much better seed and much more money. l 'But," you say, "it will 

 shrivel and become loose on the cob." Not a bit of it! All the sub- 

 stance of the stalk at the time of cutting is absorbed by the ear, and it 

 is matured in the same way that wheat is when cut in the dough state. 

 This method insures the full weight, and saves the 20 per cent, lost by 

 the old plan. 



Another item. The stalk fodder and husk cured in this way are 

 worth at least $3 per ton to any farmer; whereas, if left to die in the 

 field, they will not amount from a hundred acres to a day's wages. 



Any soil can be made to produce corn, provided it is not too wet. 

 Soils differ so materially even on the same farm, that the farmer, 

 to produce good crops, has to make them a real study. Once knowing 

 them, and what they need and demand, he very easily increases the 

 yield. For corn, land should be plowed, turning the sod only as deep 

 as the grass roots extend, at the same time subsoiled with a heavy 

 subsoiler and a strong team. The best fertilizer a farmer of limited 

 means can use for his corn crop, can be made behind his cows. Straw, 

 chaff, leaves, muck, surface soil, barnyard scrapings, refuse of every 

 description, well tempered with the droppings and manure water of the 

 cow stalls make as good compost as the farmer needs. His compost 

 heap must be kept under cover, and should be turned over at least once 

 a month. The straw, chaff and leaves should never be thrown upon 

 the heap until the cattle have well wet them. 



