AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
283 
LARGEST YIELD 0F CORN 
ON RECORD. 
A correspondent writing from Vanderburg 
County, Indiana, informs us that at the State 
Agricultual Exhibition a Silver Pitcher was 
awarded for the best five acres of corn. The 
award was made upon the decision of three disin¬ 
terested men in each town, who examined the 
corn growing in the fields, and measured one acre 
of each plot. They then made oath to the yield 
of the single acre, and of the whole five estimat¬ 
ed from the acre actually measured. The award 
made, under oath, was for 857£ bushels of shelled 
corn on five acres, or 171J bushels to the acre. 
If this has been excelled at any other time, or 
in any other place, we shall be glad to hear of it. 
Till we do we shall put Vanderburg County, 
Indiana, at the head of the corn column—unless 
we hear of some mistake in the above report. 
A TALK ON ORDERLY FARMING. 
There is so much disorderly farming in vogue, 
we have thought we might do a useful service in 
drawing a picture of the opposite; we mean a 
style of husbandry which has a place and time 
for everything, and does everything in its place 
and time ; which seeks, in short, to carry on all 
the operations of the farm in the best possible 
manner. It cannot be denied that very many 
farmers lack the quality to which we here allude. 
They plow and manure, and rotate crops ; they 
buy, raise and sell stock, and manage their house¬ 
hold affairs very much at hap-hazard, with little 
forethought and method. VVe are well aware 
that it is hard to resist the power of bad exam¬ 
ple ; that it is easy to do as our fathers did before 
us, and as our neighbors do around ; that unfor- 
seen circumstances will arise to break in upon 
the best matured system : we admit all this, yet 
we know that it is best to reduce our style of 
farming to a well-digested plan, and to strive by 
all means to make circumstances bend to that 
plan. By firm resolution and energy, more can 
be done in this matter than is often supposed. 
There is meaning in the old proverbs that “ For¬ 
tune favors the brave,” and that “ The lucky man 
is generally the energetic and industrious man.” 
But now to our picture : 
Health. —The orderly farmer takes care of his 
health. He does not expose himself unneces¬ 
sarily to wet and cold ; does not go with damp 
feet and insufficient clothing ; does not overwork 
himself in planting-time, and in haying and 
harvesting; does not worry himself with un¬ 
due anxiety about the weather, or the success of 
crops, and so expose himself to the assaults of 
disease. He keeps his head cool, his heart cheer¬ 
ful, his passions under control, and so builds up 
and fortifies his citadel of strength that he is sel¬ 
dom interrupted in his daily labors. 
Buildings. —Look now at his buildings. His 
dwelling-house is not, indeed, pretentious ; that 
would be out of keeping with the character of the 
man, and of his employment; but it is comforta- 
ole, convenient, neat. It is roomy, like his heart. 
It is a good protection against all the vicissitudes 
of the seasons. What a spacious cellar ! How 
well arranged for storing all kinds of fruit and 
vegetables, and the various other articles needful 
in good housekeeping. And then, it is frost-proof 
and rat-proof, and is kept as “ neat as a pin.” 
The rooms above ground are planned for conven¬ 
ience in dispatching household duties. The par¬ 
lor and living-room look attractive ; kitchen, pan- 
tries, closets, milk-room, wood-house, well-house, 
cistern, sinks and drains, are all just where they 
should be, or as near to that as possible. His 
barns and other out-buildings have no ginger¬ 
bread work about them, but they are substantial, 
suited to their purpose, and are kept in repair. 
Fences —Glance at his fences. Some of them 
are the old Virginia rail, but they are not suffer¬ 
ed to become tipsy ; some of them are post and 
board, and here and there hedges are beginning 
to appear. He is not yet perfectly satisfied with 
any hedge-plant for a permanent farm fence. The 
buckthorn is hardly thorny enough to turn cattle ; 
the hawthorn is liable to several diseases; the 
thorn-locust is rampant, and needs considerable 
care, but answers tolerably well. The osage or¬ 
ange is just the thing, if it proves hardy enough 
for his climate, He is giving it a thorough trial. 
But whatever kind of fence he may have for any 
field, he does not sutler it to become dilapidated. 
Good fences, he knows, have much to do in mak¬ 
ing good neighbors ; he values his own peace of 
mind too highly—saying nothing about his crops 
—to leave Ins fields exposed to the inroads of vi¬ 
cious cattle. Broken rails are, therefore, replaced 
with new ones, and if a board gets off, it is soon 
observed and nailed on again. 
Mode of Tillage. —Notice his mode of tillage. 
As a ground-work of the whole, he has drained 
his low, swampy lands, and not those only, but 
other parts of his farm which were found to have 
superabundant moisture at any season of the year. 
He was systematic even in doing this. It would 
have cost too much labor and money to have un¬ 
dertaken all at once. So he distributed the work 
through several years, doing the most important 
first, and the remainder as time and means per¬ 
mitted. And the work pays as it goes: Thorough 
plowing and manuring go hand in hand with 
draining. The skinning system he leaves for 
others : his plows are of the kind which go down 
into the soil, not merely scratch the surface. No 
manures are wasted on his premises; they are 
never so highly concentrated as to need dilution 
by exposure to rain and sun and wind. If any¬ 
thing of this sort is needed, he thinks it best to 
incorporate with them muck or straw, and to lay 
them up in heaps, under sheds or in barn-cellars. 
Nor does he confine his work to a single season. 
The well-prepared field is sown or planted with 
good seed, and then it is well tilled throughout 
the Summer. The cultivator and hoe are kept 
always bright, the soil kept mellow, the crops al¬ 
ways growing, and the weeds kept in constant 
subjection. 
Implements , Seeds and Stock. —His selection of 
these is worthy of notice. He likes not to make 
farming an unnecessary drudgery. Hence, when¬ 
ever he can find a machine that will economically 
save human labor, he buys it at once. He takes 
pains to inform himself as to the best patterns 
that he may not be imposed upon by unprincipled 
venders. So in the choice of seeds. He is care¬ 
ful to save from his own crops those which ma¬ 
ture the earliest, and develop themselves in the 
best manner. And, lest they should deteriorate 
somewhat, by being too long grown on the same 
soil, he exchanges with orderly farmers in other 
places. If he learns of new varieties which prom r 
ise well, he does not scout them at once as num- 
bugs. He goes to reliable sources of information, 
or he makes careful experiments, and then adopts 
or rejects the new comer as its merits seem to 
require. He is not afraid to prove new things, 
yet is quite sure to hold fast to the old which are 
known to be good. The same system is shown 
in his purchases and care of stock. He is not ig¬ 
norant of the respective merits of imported 
breeds ; but whatever “ the blood ” of his ani¬ 
mals, they are well cared for. They are well* 
housed, supplied with food and water in abund¬ 
ance, and at regular hours. 
Books. —Our last glance will be at his book-case. 
Here we find, as we expected, his farm accounts, 
and the footing-up shows the balance on the right 
side. Here, too, are the best treatises on agri¬ 
culture, as well as instructive books in various 
departments of literature. He is a book farmer 
in the true sense of that term ; a man who prac¬ 
tices according to well-settled principles, and not 
simply by rote. Here, also, are one or more ol 
the leading papers of the day devoted to the wants 
of his occupation, not the least important of which, 
we should of course say, is the American Agricul¬ 
turist. * 
For the American Agriculturist. 
WANT OF TIME. 
LESSONS IN LIFE BY A GLEANER-NUMBER III. 
I do not know as there is another source of 
complaint among farmers so universal, as that of 
the “ want of time.” One, for example, believes 
that education is a good thing, regrets that he 
never had it, and wishes his boys might have a 
better chance, but he is crowded for time and 
can’t spare them. There is so much to do, and 
besides, they must be earning something to start 
with when they become men. Another acknowl¬ 
edges that his farm arrangements are not just 
right, as, for instance, there should be a gate 
where there is now a pair of bars ; should be two 
hinges where there is now but one ; should be a 
ditch where is now a marsh, and should be a cis¬ 
tern where is now a barrel. And so of a multi¬ 
tude of like inconveniences, but he has not the 
time to fix them yet. And this is the case among 
all classes. Ask a man if such a plan would not 
be an improvement, “ Yes ; I mean to have it so 
if I ever find time.” 
Now I claim that many, if not all such persons, 
have got the cart before the horse, they are ever 
trying to stretch the time to suit their work, 
whereas they should plan their work for the time. 
Jack Bobstay’s horse could have gone a mile in 
three minutes with ease, only the distance was 
too much for the time. It is not for me to name 
the number of acres a man may undertake to till, 
and have leisure time to keep his garden, orchard, 
barns, gates, &c., all in fine condition,—for there 
are many considerations in deciding the question, 
—but I do earnestly protest that every farmer 
should lay his plans so as to have time for reading, 
for study, and for improvement. 
Let me illustrate : I know a man who, during 
the dry season, goes 50 rods after water for his 
family’s use, because his well, not being, quite 
deep enough, dries with every drouth, and he has 
never had time to build a cistern. He actually 
carries two to four pails of water twice a day that 
distance, for weeks at a time, and yet is not math¬ 
ematician enough (though he has taught school 
more than a score of Winters,) to know how much 
more time he has wasted than would have been 
required to build a reservoir for keeping an un¬ 
failing supply of water. 
x. l. c. ORR. 
The Superintendent of a certain Railroad dis¬ 
charged a conductor belonging to that road. The 
conductor was asked why he was discharged. 
“Well!” said he, “ I was discharged for giving a 
free pass.” “ What made you such a fool as to 
give a free pass'!” “ Well! you see !” replied the 
Conductor, “ I got tired riding alone !’’ 
Seldom grow the same crop, or crops of the 
same femily on the same spot, without an inter¬ 
vening wop of a different nature. 
