AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
173 
are rejoicing in the beauty of their corn-fields. 
When dry weather comes, they bid it welcome ; 
it is just what the “ King of the Cereals ” wants. 
They keep their hoes bright, which keeps the 
ground moist, and keeps the corn growing. 
Cost of a Bushel of Corn- 
We have often urged the utility of keeping an 
exact account of the expense attending the rais¬ 
ing of every crop, that a correct judgment may be 
had of the resulting profits or losses. 
A correspondent of the American Agriculturist, 
F. E. H., West Bridgewater, Mass., having pur¬ 
sued this plan, gives the following figures show¬ 
ing how much per bushel his corn cost him. The 
amount cultivated was just one acre, the soil is de¬ 
scribed as a hard gravely loam. 
Plowing and Furrowing.....$2.02 
5 Cords manure .. .20.00 
Drawing manure, and manuring in hill..... 5.60 
1 Bushel potatoes and 7 quarts of seed..... 1.25 
Planting. 1.92 
Cultivating and hoeing first time. 2.87 
Cultivating and hoeing second time. 2.50 
Pulling weeds.... .25 
Interest on land. 12.00 
$49.01 
From this amount is deducted value of Pump¬ 
kins raised with the corn.. .$2 50 
10 Bushels Potatoes.5.00 
Also say £ value of manure left in the soil. .5 00 
$12.50 
Leaving $36.51 as the cost of the 36 bushels, 
or in even numbers $1 per bushel—certainly not 
a very profitable investment. The account thus 
kept, would probably deter from a second trial, un¬ 
less indeed, some unusual influence of season or 
otherwise, prevented the yield of an average crop, 
and attention would be turned to something that 
promised more remunerative results. Let every 
man at the close of this year have such state¬ 
ments before him, and he can then more easily 
decide what crops to raise, or whether to “ sell 
out ” entirely. 
How to Hoe Corn. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
When I was a boy, and first went into the field 
to hoe corn, I was quite puzzled to know what my 
father meant, when he directed us to be sure and 
“ hoe where the corn wasn’t.” But after following 
him a few days, and noticing the pains he took 
to have all the ground between the hills well 
stirred, as well as the weeds cut up, and par¬ 
ticularly when I saw how careful he was, not 
to disturb the ground deeply very near the young 
plants, I understood his meaning. In a long 
acquaintance with corn I have observed enough 
to make me think he was right. The weeds 
must be cut up root and branch to have good 
corn, that’s certain, and the ground must be 
kept loose enough to let the heat get in, and 
the moisture pass up from below, and to allow 
the spreading roots to make their way easily 
through the soil in their search for good pick¬ 
ing. But I’ve seen a good many slash away 
with the hoe close around the stalk, when every 
cut there, if two inches below the surface, must 
have broken quite a number of the growing 
roots. It certainly can not be of much use to 
feed corn well, if you then go to work and cut 
off its mouths, for the roots are mouths to the 
plant. So I always cultivate lightly where the 
roots have extended, which is about the length 
that the stalk has reached above the ground, 
and when the corn is up breast high, I wouldn’t 
let a man go through the field with a plow, if 
he d pay wages for doing it and find himself. 
I do not believe in billing corn; making the 
field look like a crop of young flag staffs plant¬ 
ed on small pinnacles. The stalk has grown 
up into the air where it was intended to stay, 
and it isn’t natural to partially bury it alive. 
People do it, to prop it up, so that the wind 
will not level it. But if it be let alone, it will do 
its own propping, by sending forth extra roots 
just above the surface, which go out and an¬ 
chor it all around. I have seen a field that 
was hilled, laid flat by a storm, while the next 
one to it, that grew naturally, stood up after 
the blow, as straight as a militia captain on 
training-day. When corn is hilled, it will try 
to send out a second growth of supporting roots, 
but neither the first nor the second growth will 
then become strong enough to be of much use. 
I therefore try to leave my ground nearly level, 
and thus also save the roots the trouble of div¬ 
ing down again, to get below the gullies which 
are sometimes left after the first plowing. 
Jonathan. 
Smoky Chimneys- 
Chimneys on the one story wing of houses, are 
often caused to smoke by the wind blowing over 
the top of the higher part of the house, and down 
into them. A multitude of contrivances have 
been devised to remedy this evil. The most 
common is a cap of stone or iron laid upon two 
courses of bricks at the four corners of the chim¬ 
ney, thus : as shown in fig. 1. Th is answers 
- 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
pretty well when the wind blows down steadily 
from over the house, or from any direction except 
towards the house. Then by striking against the 
side of the upright part of the house, it is broken 
into a thousand eddies, driving this way and that, 
up and down, under the chimney cap and down 
the flue, and filling the house with smoke. Sev¬ 
eral devices are in vogue, for meeting this diffi¬ 
culty. One, highly recommended, is called Mott’s 
Ventilator, of which fig. 2 is a sketch. We have 
seen a modification of this in a cheaper form, 
which can be made by any worker in tin and 
sheet iron. Get an upright piece of stove-pipe, 
two feet long and eight or ten inches diameter, 
and make it square at the bottom so as to fit the 
flue. Fasten this to the top of the offending 
chimney, by brick-work 
or by a cap of sheet-iron, 
the first is preferable. 
On the top of this upright 
piece, fasten.a horizontal 
section of the same di¬ 
ameter, but flaring a lit¬ 
tle at each end. It will 
look somewhat like fig¬ 
ure 3. We have known this simple contrivance 
to work well on chimneys where several fashion¬ 
able and costly ventilators had failed to afford 
any benefit. 
Uses of Coal Ashes. 
In answer to some inquiries on this subject, we 
would say that their value as a manure is not 
very great. The chemists will tell us that they 
contain only a little potash, much less than wood 
ashes, and that they are composed chiefly of 
earthy materials, with some sulphate of lime or 
gypsum. Experience will best decide where they 
are most beneficial: hurtful they can hardly be. 
In heavy clay soils, they will by mechanical ac¬ 
tion, tend to make the ground porous and easy of 
tillage. And for this reason, some good cultiva¬ 
tors recommend their free use in potato fields, as 
they render the soil light and dry, and so favor 
the healthfulness of the tuber. Thirty, fifty, or 
even a hundred bushels an acre are not too much. 
They may be used advantageously as a top-dres¬ 
sing to grass-lands ; also as a mulch to fruit trees 
in Summer, and a protection to their roots in 
Winter. A Flemish Beauty pear tree that we saw 
last Summer, was loaded down with fruit, from 
having been liberally mulched in this way. 
How to Succeed. 
Mr. Williams is a lucky dog. He prospers in 
everything he undertakes. If he buys land, it 
somehow turns out to be good ; and if he sells, 
he gets a good bargain. Every part of his farm 
bears the impress of its owner. His buildings 
and fences are in good repair. His land is well 
tilled, his crops show their keeping, and so 
do his horses, oxen, cows and sheep. There are 
unmistakable signs of prosperity all about him. 
Mr. Brown don’t succeed so well. He is a 
poor judge of land, and buys and sells, generally 
to a disadvantage. He works hard, works early 
and late, is very economical, denies himself and 
his family not only luxuries but even comforts, 
and yet he don’t succeed. His fences rot before 
he is able to renew them, his buildings look rusty, 
his crops are meagre, and his domestic animals— 
why, they are of a piece with the rest. 
Now’, what makes the difference in these two 
cases 1 Undoubtedly, these men were differently 
constituted. But in addition to this, the one has 
cultivated his talents, while the other has suffer¬ 
ed his to run to waste. Here, as elsewhere, the 
successful man is the thinking man. He gets in¬ 
struction from everything, because his eyes are 
open and his mind awake. When, for example, 
he plants a tree, he studies its w’ants, observes 
its habits, and learns all that can well be learned 
about tree-planting ; and hence he succeeds in it. 
If he proposes to try some new mode of tillage, 
he does not go at it blind fold. He reads on the 
subject; and, what is more, reflects upon it, 
and ascertains the why and wherefore ; he talks 
with intelligent neighbors about it, and having 
thoroughly made up his mind, proceeds steadily 
to the accomplishment of his object. Is it sub¬ 
soiling 1 Down goes the long plow-share into the 
virgin mold, with a will, regardless of the doubts 
and winks of his thriftless neighbors. Is it some 
new mode of making and applying manures, or 
the use of some new implement 1 it matters not 
w'hat it may be, he does it because he has good 
and sufficient reasons for it. He succeeds, as a 
matter of course, where success is possible. 
It is just the opposite with the unsuccessful 
man. He won’t trouble himself to find out the 
reason of the most common processes. He don’t 
observe, and therefore learns but little from nis 
daily experience. He follow's on doggedly in the 
beaten track, satisfied if he earns his daily bread. 
To succeed, one must reflect, as well as work. 
A man’s body will not thrive, however much 
food he may take into his stomach, unless he di¬ 
gests it. So, a man with his eyes may see many 
things, but if he does not ieflect upon them, if he 
does not deduce principles from facts, his mind 
will not grow, his character will not improve, and 
in the practical affairs of life he will not succeed. 
Labor and thought must go together. Observa¬ 
tion, reflection and industry combine to form the 
successful man. 
