1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRIC ULTURIST. 
-415 
again, Uiis gentleman would find it an easy 
matter to buy the engine and sheller and mill, 
and easy enough doubtless to buy the hogs. 
But he would iiud it not so easy to get a man 
to attend to them. And this is the vital point. 
I find little trouble in getting meu that can 
plow and hoe, bind wheat, and cut up corn, 
but it is rare to find a man who can be trusted 
to take care of animals. It is not safe to 
make calculations on getting corn for any 
length of time in Indianapolis for 80 cents 
a bushel. I should not be surprised if a 
year from now it was 60 cents. The price 
of a great staple like corn does not long remain 
below the cost of production. 
The Deacon acknowledges that I beat him 
on corn this year; but he contends that " every 
dollar's worth of corn you raise costs you two 
dollars." 
" I won't dispute that, Deacon t " I replied ; 
" but if it does, how much does it cost you ? 
Let us figure a little. My corn this year is on 
a badly run-down field. It was very weedy 
and very stony. It was a clover sod. I plowed 
it last fall and again this spring, getting out all 
the stones we could. It was then harrowed 
two or three times, rolled, and then the corn 
was drilled in 3J feet apart with a grain drill. 
It was harrowed four times after planting with 
Thomas's smoothing harrow; cultivated nine 
times. We went over the whole field once 
with the hoes, and part of it twice. The ex- 
pense would be about as follows : 
Fall plowing with three horses $3.00 per acre. 
Spring plowing 3.00 " " 
Harrowing three times 1.00 '* " 
Rolling 25 " '* 
Drilling 50 t4 " 
Harrowing four times with smoothing 
harrow 1.00 " 
Cultivating nine times 3.75 " " 
Hoeing 1.00 "' 
Cutting up corn 2.25 " " 
Hulking— six cents per bushel of ears. .. . S.40 " " 
Drawing in stalks, etc 1.35 " " 
$36.00 " ' ; 
" It has cost you more than that," says the 
Deacon. " I saw you in the field several times 
last fall and this spring with three or four men 
and a four-horse team." 
" True. We were getting out some big 
stones. I know you do not like my four-horse 
whippletree ; but I can not see the sense of 
straining a pair of horses while there is another 
team in the field. But never mind that. It is 
hardly fair to charge the expense of getting 
out stones to the corn account. I look upon it 
in the light of a permanent investment, and 
charge it to the cost of the farm. Now, Dea- 
con, what has your corn cost you ? " 
" Not half what yours cost you." 
But let us see. The account will stand some- 
thing like this : 
Plowing once $3.00 
Harrowing 2.00 
Planting in hills by hand 1.50 
Cultivating 3.00 
Hoeing 3.00 
Cuttingup.com 1.50 
Husking— ^ix cents per bushel of ears 3.60 
Drawing in stalks, etc 1.00 
$18.00 
" But," says the Deacon, " you charge only 
$3.75 for cultivating your corn nine times, and 
charge me $3.00, and we only cultivated our 
corn twice." 
"Exactly; but you went twice in a row 
each time, and both ways of the rows; and 
this is equal to going eight times once in a row 
one way." 
This seemed to be a new idea to the Deacon. 
He has always laughed at me for cultivating 
my corn so man}- times. He did not like to 
have it shown that it costs him as much to cul- 
tivate his corn twice as it does me eight times. 
But he could not deny it. 
" It pays," he said, " to go twice in a row 
and both ways. It saves a good deal of 
hoeing." 
" That is undoubtedly true, Deacon," I said, 
" but I am sure that harrowing the corn three 
or four times will be still more effective in kill- 
ing weeds and saving hoeing. I am not saying 
anything against your system, however. All 
I want to show is that if a dollar's worth of 
com costs me $2.00 it costs you still more." 
"Even according to your own figures," said 
the Deacon, " it costs you $26.00 per acre and 
me only $18.60." 
" Exactly ; but look at the difference in the 
condition of the land. Dr. Miles and Mr. Phil- 
ips of Michigan were here when we were cut- 
ting up the corn, and Mr. P. said it was the 
cleanest piece of corn he ever saw." 
" It is clean," reluctantly admitted the Dea- 
con, " but I tell you such farming won't pay." 
" Perhaps not, Deacon, but if it will not 
yours certainly won't. Let us figure out the 
results. 
Your corn will be about 00 bushels of ears per 
acre, worth say 30c, or $1S.00 
1! ; tons of stalks, @ $10 per ton 15.00 
$33.00 
Expenses 18.60 
$14.40 
My corn. I think, will go 140 bushels per acre, 
worth say 30c. per bushel $42.00 
Three tons of stalks, (a $10 .' 30.00 
$72.00 
Expenses 26.00 
$46.00 
"But," says the Deacon, "you have said 
nothing about rent and taxes." 
" True ; and if I were you I would say noth- 
ing, for you value your land higher than I do 
mine. If we call the rent and taxes $10 per 
acre, the profits on your corn would be $4.40 
per acre and on mine $36. Not a bad showing, 
Deacon, for a little extra cultivation." 
Our conversation was here interrupted, but 
I presume the Deacon will have something- 
else to say on the other side, and if so I will 
faithfully report it. 
Stable Floors. 
Upon the proper arrangement of the floors 
of stables depends much of the comfort of the 
stock and economy in saving manure. Nothing 
is more detrimental to the health of farm ani- 
mals than foul earthen stable floors. They are 
saturated with liquid manure, they are always 
damp, an unhealthy moldy smell constantly 
pervades them, and millions of the germs of 
possibly poisonous fungoid growths are con- 
stantly inhaled. It is no wonder that there pre 
in consequence constant blood disorder or 
bronchial or 1 mg diseases. Besides, the appear- 
ance, and the comfort of the animals are sacri- 
ficed, because cleanliness is impossible under 
tiie circumstances. We very early iu our expe- 
rience discovered this, and for many years were 
constantly experimenting to discover the best 
stable floor. There are two of which we can 
hardly determine which is the better. One of 
these is a double plank floor. The bottom 
plank is of hemlock— which is as good as any if 
kept dry, and is the cheapest — ten feet long 
and two inches thick if for single stalls. This 
lower floor being laid is well saturated with hot 
gas-tar, aud the upper layer of plank, also of 
hemlock, which uuder these circumstauces is 
durable, and which does not become so smooth 
or slippery as oak or yellow piue, and is there- 
fore safer, are laid upou it. They are first 
coated upon the under side with the tar, then 
laid so that the joints are broken aud finally 
firmly spiked down. These planks should be 
li inch thick aud 7 feet long. They form the 
Fig. 1. — WOODEN FLOOR FOR COW-HOUSES. 
bed of the stall, of which 2J feet are occupied 
by the feed-trough, and 4i feet give standing 
room for the cow. At the ends of this bed or 
floor of the stall is a depression 1J inch deep, 
into which all the manure drops or drains. 
This may be made of any width that is desir- 
able. When the stalls are single two feet is a 
sufficient width, with a sidewalk of one foot 
wide. If the stalls are double four feet, give 
plenly of room. Figure 1 shows the profile of 
such a stall with the lengths of the various 
parts and the position of the stanchion and that 
of the cow. The depressed portion of the floor 
should be kept well coated with gas-tar and 
sprinkled with sand while the tar is hot. The 
tar is a great preservative of the wood. Such 
a floor is quite impervious to water, and is 
equally good for a hog-pen as for a cow-stable. 
For horses, the floor should he laid ■nith the 
best white oak, hemlock being too soft to stand 
contact with the shoe calks. 
The other floor is the cobble-stone and cement 
floor. The floor being graded with a gentle 
slope, or half an iuch to a foot, is paved with 
cobble-stones selected for evenness of size and 
for their shape, which should be that of an egg 
with one broad and one pointed end. The 
smaller end is laid in the earth and the broader 
one uppermost. The method of laying them 
is shown fully in the Agriculturist of Novem- 
ber, 1871. They should be well rammed down, 
and wheu the floor is laid all loose sand is to be 
swept off from it. Fig. 2 shows how the floor 
for a double stall should be made. The spaces 
are of the same size as those iu fig. 1. The fin- 
ishing of the surface is thus performed. One 
part of good hydraulic cement aud seven parts 
of shari) saud are well mixed div, and theu 
i»nfitiui^.iHiui|KjiK^*if!ttAH 
Fio-. 2. COBBLE-STONE PAVEMENT FOR COW-HOOSES. 
water is added sufficient to make a thin mortar. 
This is quickly spread over the paved floor and 
worked into the spaces between the stones with 
an olu stiff corn broom. It is laid on thick 
enough to fill the spaces evenly, and with the 
broom a fair smooth surface is formed through 
which only the tops of the stones are seen. A 
thin wash of pure cement is spread over the 
whole, and it is left to dry. The next day a 
