MAINE SWEET CORN NOTES, 
not be done successfully ; the graft may unite, but it 
is doubtful whether it would be permanent.” Who 
can tell? 
‘‘FODDER HOLDS THE BALANCE OF POWER.” 
Great are the possibilities of sweet corn, yet the best 
farmers, in good seasons, do not always “ get there.” 
This seductive crop, because at its best it yields won¬ 
derfully, is largely grown for the canners in the valley 
of the Kennebec, north of Augusta, Me., and in the 
pond region west of it. It has been a cash crop in 
this region since the Portland Packing Co. began to 
control the output, though not many years ago its 
value was as uncertain as that of wild-c it currency, 
for the packers had a way of “ failing up ” at the end 
of the season, and this was repeated a good many 
times. Now, whatever his corn “figures up” the 
farmer gets, and gets it as soon as the brief packing 
season is over. 
No crop better illustrates the great difference in 
methods and also in season than this. One man told 
me, in strict confidence, that he had never been able 
to get more than $30 per acre from his corn. lie had 
tried repeatedly, had grown it finely for the table and 
in small patches, but when he made it a field crop he 
failed miserably. He was a good deal of a book farmer, 
and his neighbors easily accounted, they thought, for 
his poor luck. 
“ How is your corn crop, Mr. Drummond ? ” I said 
lately to one of the largest growers for the Vassal- 
boro factory. 
“Good, for a poor year.” he answered. “I have 
eight acres, and get about $350 from it. I have just 
had my re* 
____ turns. It has 
averaged me 
about this 
for sevcnl 
years.” 
“II ave you 
any special 
method o f 
managing 
this crop, 
Mr. Drum¬ 
mond ? ” 
“No,” he 
replied. “My 
ground is 
rich, as I put 
on it 1 a s t 
year 30 two- 
horse loads 
of manure, 
What Say ? 
p h a t e , ex- 
What a Little Change Did for a New England Farm House. Fig. 220. (See page 668.) cept on a 
small part 
of the field, which I thought richer than the rest ; 
there I got but half a crop. I plant the small 
variety.” We plant here. I may say. the ••small ” and 
the “medium.” the fornu r growing only 2; feet high, 
and the ears are close to the ground. They are large 
and well filled, however, to the end of the cobs. 
“ I plant mine in rows,” said he, “ three feet apart, 
is inches in the row. I get it in from May ’ i to early 
in dune. The ground must be just right for it to come 
he will very likelv, if he be an average farmer, brand 
Mr. Henderson as a mighty fishy man. Hut let him 
turn to Mr. Henderson’s recommendations for fertil¬ 
izing and tillage and he will find himself as much be¬ 
hind in the latter as in the former. 
A spring-tooth, one-horse cultivator is preferable to 
the corresponding rigid shovel-tooth machine on land 
abounding in tight stones. When a tight stone and a 
shovel-tooth cultivator try to pass each other on the 
same track, the results are unpleasant and the oper¬ 
ator often comes home with fragments of the tool 
and his temper. In stony land the gait of the horse 
will be considerably faster where the fear of short 
stops is taken away. The spring-tooth does not 
throw as much earth as the shovel-tooth, and will not 
root up large weeds as well, but the cultivator is pro¬ 
vided with seven instead of five teeth and more finely 
pulverizes the soil than the shovel, and leaves it 
quite level. 
The land must be free from stones and weeds if we 
wish to dispense with the plow at grain sowing. The 
soil must be mellow from frequent cultivation during 
the corn-growing season. Hills are preferable to 
drills for this method, as they allow cross cultivation. 
It is more difficult to get a level surface with the 
heavy dent corns, as the tendency of their stubble is 
to form stabborn mounds about the hills which the 
field roller can hardly subdue in the spring. I can 
show fields put down in this way which have been 
mowed twice this year, where it is impossible to detect 
the corn hills, or any unevenness of surface different 
from ordinary seeding down ; advantages due to the 
spring-tooth harrow. F- c. dirge. 
