492 
AMEEIOAl^ AGEIOULTUEIST. 
[Novembee, 
What is a Bushel of Indian Corn? 
■w. E. STONE. 
The measure of a bushel is commonly accepted 
as a fixed and indisputable quantity. It is based 
upon national standards which have existed in Eng¬ 
land since 1696,and in America from the first colonial 
settlement. As a measure of bulk -this so-called 
Winchester bushel contains 3150.42 cubic inches 
of water. So far then the capacity of the measure 
is well defined and unchangeable. So many cubic 
inches of any material is always a measured bushel. 
But this quantity, though always identical in bulk, 
may vary greatly in weight, therefore a bushel of 
corn is by no means a definite quantity, and may 
have so wide a range of actual value that every 
person who produces, handles, or consumes the 
grain, is interested in the query which stands as 
the title at the head of this article. 
In commerce a fixed weight is used as the equiv¬ 
alent of the measured bushel, but this varies so 
much in different States that it fairly illustrates the 
uncertainty surrounding the whole matter. By 
different statutes the legal bushel of barley weighs 
from 47 to 50 pounds ; of buckwheat, from 40 to 
53 pounds ; shelled Indian com, 53 to 58 pounds ; 
oats, 30 to 34 pounds; rye, 50 to 56 pounds, while 
wheat alone remains constant in ali the States at 
60 pounds. The term bushel, therefore, does not 
express any definite quantity in weight even though 
the volume remains fixed. But the chief and real 
fallacy of this unit of grain measure, both in weight 
and volume, appears when we consider the compo¬ 
sition of the product measured. We shall show that 
the proportion of water and solid matter in the 
grain, varies to such a degree that no unit of meas¬ 
ure is accurate which fails to allow for the variation. 
Ail grains in their natural state contain more or 
less water, the amount depending upon the condi¬ 
tions by which they have been surrounded. In 
Indian corn the moisture may reach as high as fifty 
per cent, and probably never falls much below 
twenty per cent at the time of harvest. Unfortu¬ 
nately but little is known of the exact composition 
of grains as they come from the harvest field. All 
published analyses give the moisture content as the 
sample came to the chemist, but usually omit to 
state its age or manner of curing. Professor Brew¬ 
er’s special Census Keport on the cereals, gives 98 
analyses of all varieties of Indian corn, having an 
average of 11 per cent of water, with a range of 
from 4.10 to 30.08 per cent, but most of the samples 
were undoubtedly taken from well cured corn. 
The curing process of Indian corn has been made 
the subject of careful experiment at Houghton 
Earm. Samples are selected at the harvest from 
each of the thirty-one experimental corn plots, and 
being grown with as many different manures, rep¬ 
resent a wide range of composition. These samples 
are then stored upon suspended racks and under 
conditions which allow of rapid drying, and weigh¬ 
ed at regular intervals during the succeeding year. 
The observations of three years have been but a 
repetition of the fact that this grain continues to 
lose moisture under natural conditions for at least 
a year after harvest, i. e., it requires a full year to 
reach what may be called a thoroughly cured con¬ 
dition. The following table shows the percentage 
of loss in weight of Indian corn at each of the 
specified times since the previous weighing: 
Ilai'vest 
March 
July 
to 
to 
to 
Total 
March. 
July. 
Oct. 
Crop of 1881.. 
.. 7.4 
4.0 
11.4 
Crop of 1882.. 
3.5 
7.0 
4.4 
15.8 
Crop of 1883 
.. 4.3 
9.8 
Complete data on the crop of 1883 have not yet 
been secured at the time of writing. 
There is a loss of from 10 to 15 per cent of 
moisture during the year, and a weighed bushel at 
the end of this time contains this amount of mois¬ 
ture less and an equal quantity of solid matter 
more than the weighed bushel at harvest, yet the 
legal weight, 56 pounds in most of the States, 
remains the same for both conditions. The only 
departure from this occurs in Ohio, where a legal 
bushel of corn on the ear weighs 70 pounds 
from harvest to January 1st, and 68 pounds 
from that time on. At Houghton Earm, the 31 
lots before mentioned, selected from the crop 
of 1883, gave, in December following the harvest, 
an average weight per bushel of 54.1 pounds. The 
following April, bushels from the sajue lot averaged 
53pounds; in July, 53.4 pounds, and in October, 
one year from harvest, 55.4 pounds. The crop of 
1881 was followed through a similar series of 
changes, and averaged 55.5 pounds per bushel, one 
year from harvest; hence Indian com does not 
reach a standard weight per bushel, until after a 
year’s drying. In business this is important. The 
increase of two pounds from July to October, was 
A GARDEN BOULEVARD. 
a gain of 3.7 per cent in value, if sold by weight, 
but not taken into account if sold by measure. 
But we only arrive at the pith of the matter, 
when we consider the actual amount of valuable 
dry matter in the grain. This is the only true basis 
of value. It is fixed and unchangeable from the 
time of harvest, while the percentage of water de¬ 
creases up to a c.ertain point, and even then con¬ 
stantly fluctuates with the changes of weather, 
which Professor Brewer found by comparing a large 
number of analyses covered a range of 7 per cent. 
Well cured Indian corn contains from 10 to 13 per 
cent of moisture, or in the bushel of 56 pounds, there 
are about 50 pounds of dry matter. The 31 lots which, 
after drying a year,averaged 55.4 pounds per bushel, 
contained 13.87 per cent of moisture, or49.3 pounds 
of dry matter per bushel. The previous July, when 
the average weight was 53.4 pounds to the bushel, 
there was 14.94 per cent of moisture, or 45.4 
pounds of dry matter. In April preceding this, 
the average weight per bushel was 53 pounds, with 
19.65 per cent of moisture, or 41 8 pounds of dry 
matter, and the previous December, two months 
from harvest, the average weight per bushel was 
54.1 pounds, with 33.73 per cent of moisture, or 
41.8 pounds of dry matter. The year old corn was- 
of standard quality, the others were not, therefore 
we will use it as a basis of value with which to com¬ 
pare the others. Eor illustration, let the standarff 
be worth 60 cents per bushel, or 1.1-5 cent per 
pound for the actual dry matter; then a bushel of 
the same corn was worth only 54.5 cents, the pre¬ 
vious July, 50.3 cents in April, and the same in 
December following the harvesting of the crop. 
In business, no such variation as this is recog¬ 
nized, and more often no account whatever is made 
of the difference in value which may exist at differ¬ 
ent stages of curing. Indeed, 56 pounds of corn 
is as truly a legal bushel at one stage of the curing 
as at another. Both law and commerce overlook 
the fact that the value of the grain depends upon 
the percentage of dry matter, yet the above figures- 
show the actual facts. It would be perfectly feasi¬ 
ble to arrange a scale of values for corn of different 
ages, based on this principle, since the process of 
curing seems to go on with great uniformity for 
different years. Our careful observations for three 
seasons show but little variation in the degree of 
dryness, at corresponding times of each year. 
Planning and Improving Towns and 
Villages. 
Vei 7 few of our towns and villages were built up 
according to a plan. They grew to suit the con¬ 
venience or the necessities of the early settlers. 
The crookedness of the streets in some now large 
cities, is due to following the course of the early 
country roads and farm lanes. Towns and villages 
start from a main street, upon both sides of which 
houses are built; after a while, when the distance 
from the older to the more newly settled portions 
becomes inconveniently great, streets are made 
parallel with the first, with cross streets to unite 
them. Sometimes a prosperous town that has 
been begun in this manner and grown to a large 
size, proposes to add to its attractiveness by es¬ 
tablishing, at a heavy cost, a public park, which is- 
frequently, to secure cheap lands, situated too far 
from the dwellings to be useful to the inhabitants. 
Such towns, instead of being at a heavy expense 
to construct a park, mainly for the benefit of fu¬ 
ture generations, should consider that form of im¬ 
provement known as Garden Boulevards. In the 
diagram Mr. Elias A. Long illustrates this style 
of town improvement, of which he says : “The en¬ 
graving shows a garden boulevard four hundred 
and thirty feet wide, with great and small circles, 
and narrow boulevards and streets, that open into 
it of two hundred, one hundred and fifty, and one 
hundred feet in width. The plan shows two styles- 
of laying out: the lower part in the park, and the 
upper in the avenue style. But in both, the natural 
style of arrangement mostly prevails. In addition 
to the main garden drives, there are walk-bordered 
roadways for traffic along each side, and,into which 
private walks and drives open. Such an avenue gar¬ 
den, extending for one or any number of miles 
through a town, with wide circles at central points, 
supporting town halls, art galleries, museums, con¬ 
servatories, or other edifices, and small circles at 
junctions with streets, containing monuments, stat¬ 
uary, or fountains, present an array of fine qualities 
difficult to equal. Add to this the area that on each 
side throughout the length, is embraced by private 
grounds, with residences setting back, let us sup- - 
pose, at an average distance of about thirty feet, 
and altogether a garden is presented in effect, 
about five hundred feet wide from house to house, 
and stretching far away, which for grandeur, rich¬ 
ness, variety, and healthfulness, stands unequalled 
by any other kind of town garden.” 
It may be thought that an improvement like this 
might be adopted in the newer parts of the town, 
but that it would be too costly to carry it out in the 
older and more densely settled portions. In answer 
it may be said that in cities where equally radical 
changes have been made, the increased value in 
the neighboring property has more than covered 
the cost of making the changes and improvements. 
