SI© 
Cultivation of Corn. 
in grass for about twelve years preceding. 
Soon as the frost had left the ground suffi¬ 
ciently to admit of plowing, I put in two Cary 
plows, running one after the other, in the 
same furrow, the first one cutting through 
the sod, say two inches in depth, the second 
six inches deeper, and completely covering 
the sod turned over by the former. About 
the middle of April I put my plows into it 
again and cross-plowed it. I then harrowed 
it with a very heavy two horse harrow, mark¬ 
ed it off 3 1-2 feet each way, and planted 
with three or four grains in each hill. Three 
shallow plowings was all the after cultiva¬ 
tion.” Mr. Duncan, for reasons which he 
assigns, departed from the usual practice, in 
plowing his sod a second time. If the sod 
was blue grass, as I suppose it to have been, 
from the long time it had stood in grass, I 
afri of opinion, that whilst he added consider¬ 
ably to the labor, he added nothing to the 
quantity of the yield by the second plowing. 
Mr. Duncan states the product of one acre 
of his crop at a fraction under 120 bushels. 
Sod ground, especially blue grass sod, yields 
considerably better the second year, after the 
sod has had time to decompose, and form an 
intimate union with the soil. Mr. Duncan’s 
crop was not produced, therefore, under the 
most favorable circumstances, 
General James Shelby, of Fayette county, 
obtained the premium, at the Jessamine 
County Fair, for the year 1840, for the best 
five acres of corn. The product of these 
five acres was at the rate of one hundred and 
ten bushels per acre. His mode of cultiva¬ 
tion is not given, and I have no information 
on that subject. 
The Kentucky Farmer, in giving an ac¬ 
count of this Fair, says there were six com¬ 
petitors, but for reasons, of which the editor 
was not fully informed, all withdrew, except 
General Shelby, to whom the premium was 
awarded. “ None of those, who withdrew, 
produced less than 110 bushels per acre, and 
two produced over 190 bushels per acre.” 
In the succeeding number, (page 61) in 
speaking of the large crops of corn, which 
our soil is capable of producing, by proper 
cultivation, the editor says, “ The crops 
of Messrs. Bryant and Young, of Jessamine, 
referred to in our last, that of General Shel¬ 
by,” &c. From this quotation I infer that 
the crops of Messrs. Bryant and Young were 
those spoken of as exceeding one hundred 
and ninety bushels per acre. The circum¬ 
stance of these gentlemen withdrawing, as 
competitors for the premium, when their 
crops were so much better than that of Gen. 
Shelby, is calculated to produce some doubt 
whether the facts where correctly reported 
as to the amount of their actual product. 
That I might be enabled to report to you the 
true state of the case, I addressed a letter of 
inquiry to Thomas B. Stevenson, Esq. late 
editor of the Kentucky Farmer; in reply to 
which, he assures me, that he wrote letters 
to sundry friends, and conversed with others, 
who saw the crops of Bryant and Young 
growing, and witnessed the advancement ; 
and from these various sources of informa¬ 
tion he was fully convinced of the correct¬ 
ness of the facts reported, as to the produce 
per acre of the crops of Young and Bryant. 
Among other informants was Tucker Wood- 
son, the Senator of Jessamine County, with 
whom, he remarks, “ I am personally ac¬ 
quainted, and in whom I know that perfect 
reliance can be placed. There can be no 
doubt, therefore, that the crops of these two 
gentlemen did yield over 190 bushels per 
acre, that is to say the five acres which com¬ 
peted for the premium, but which were with¬ 
drawn from the competition.” 
The reason for withdrawing these crops is 
explained by Mr. Stevenson, but I do not 
deem it necessary to repeat them here. 
Mr. Stevenson was not able to give me 
any information as to the mode of cultivating 
these crops, other than what is contained in 
the Louisville Journal, to which you refer 
me, except that Young’s crop “ was grown 
on a piece of made ground, formed by a mill¬ 
pond.” I cannot account for the yield being 
so much greater than that of Mr. Williams, 
whose method of planting, I think, is better 
calculated to produce a larger yield, all other 
circumstances being equal. Probably the 
corn planted was of a larger and more pro¬ 
ductive kind. The soil may also have been 
better adapted to the corn crop. 
The above crops were all produced in 
1840. The present year has been quite a 
favorable one for the corn crop, and I was 
very desirous of giving you the product per 
acre of a very heavy crop, which I saw grow¬ 
ing about the first of October, on the farm of 
Isaac Cunningham, of Clark County. I wrote 
to him, soon after getting your letter, and re¬ 
quested that he would have an acre of his 
corn gathered, and carefully measured, and 
report to me the quantity, together with his 
mode of cultivation, &c. I regret that a se¬ 
vere indisposition, from which I fear he will 
not recover, has prevented my request from 
being complied with. 
Mr. Cunningham’s corn was planted on a 
rich soil, which had lain ten years in blue 
