280 



MAIZE, 



putting them iincter cover after being well cured, and husking the 

 corn on the hill. The corn is thought to ripen better in this way, 

 and to keep better in the cribs. The Ohio dent, having a smaller 

 ear containing less moisture than other varieties, ripens quicker 

 and keeps better. This crop ranges from 25 to 65 bushels per 

 acre, and the difference in the yield is to be attributed to the man- 

 ner of cultivation. My experience shows that a crop of 45 bushels 

 per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including interest on land. 

 Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home consumption, 

 and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worth 3 dollars per 

 acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton. 



As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some 

 instances, in Massachusetts ; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was 

 considered an average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and 

 ploughing in long manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now 

 raised. The kinds preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, pro- 

 cured originally from Canada ; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed 

 variety, and the Dutton corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. 

 to the bushel. 



Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut Eiver Yalley, 

 "Western Yermont, and along the Lake shore ; but in the high 

 dividing ridge, and in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, 

 the climate is too severe for its profitable cultivation. 



" The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colbura, of Yermont) is the yellow 

 eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed, known here by 

 the name of the Dutton corn ; but my experience in cultivating the different kinds 

 for the last twenty-four years, has forced me to the conclusion that the common 

 eight-rowed, mixed with a kind called the BroAvn corn, does the best ; the kernel 

 of the latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these two kinds 

 of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when they become blended, 

 and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in high tilth. Of this kind, the 

 writer has raised, the past season, upon eleven acres on the Connecticut Eiver 

 alluvium, over eight hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra 

 preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels. 



It will never do to carry seed corn from South to ISTorth, as it will not mature 

 in a higher or colder climate than that from which it has been taken. Even 

 half a degree of latitude sensibly affects the maturing of the blade, and renders 

 it an uncertain crop in our high northern latitudes. To insure an extra yield 

 of this valuable grain, the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, 

 throroughly cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and 

 plaster. This done, it is the most remunerative and profitable of all gi'ain crops." 



In Delaware there are many varieties, and everybody esteems his 

 own kind the best. The grain varies from pure "flint " to pure 

 "gourd seed" — of course the mixtures which are between these 

 two varieties are most common — it inclines more to gourd seed than 

 to flint. Plint weighs full standard fifty-six, the gourd seed from 

 forty-nine to fifty-two pounds, and the mixtures range between. 

 Elint ripens from ten days to two weeks earlier. It will not pro- 

 duce as many poimds per acre as the lighter gourd seed. Soil 

 exerts its influence over the character of. corn, a heavy soil tending 

 to produce flint — light soil, gourd seed. 



The corn is " cut up " in the fall, and after curing in the shuck, 

 is husked ; the shuck remaining on the stalk with the blades. 



