JAN. I 
0 
7 
MY NEIGHBOR’* CORN. 
PROFESSOR W. J. BEAL. 
A neighbor has just sold me a load of In¬ 
dian corn in the ear. He is industrious, eco¬ 
nomical, and what most people would call a 
pood practical farmer. “Do you like this 
kind of corn.” 1 said, " Yes, it busks awful 
easy and shells, oh ! very easy. It gets ripe 
early. I get a good deal of shelled corn to a 
bushel of cars. The coh is small.” “ How 
long have you raised this kind?’’ “Two or 
three years.” 
“Will you select some ears .such as you 
would plant?" He did so. The corn is mostly 
a small red-cobbed dent. The largest ear was 
seven inches and contained twelve rows which 
were more or less broken and uneven. The 
diameter of the ear through the middle was 
just an inch and a half; through the butt end 
an inch and three-fourths. The ear is quite 
prim and the kernels of a bright golden yel¬ 
low color. The tips of the kernels are but 
slightly depressed. The kernels are widest at 
the middle and taper each way. By this means 
there Is a deep groove or furrow near the sur¬ 
face between the rows. These grooves give a 
good opportunity for the teeth of horses and 
swine to get off the corn. Many ears of corn, 
not such as he preferred for seed, had but 
eight rows, and the cob could he seen between 
them, because the kernels tapered the wrong 
way from the end next the cob to the surface. 
He rejected the ears which had kernels con¬ 
taining large Indentations. They were not so 
bright, not so solid and did not ripen so early. 
He wanted the ears well filled out at the tip. 
Hie crop was light, he did not know bow much 
to the acre, I thought he might add a third or 
more to his crop by procuring seed of another 
variety near him. The first question asked 
was the cost of the seed. He would prefer to 
plant his own seed to paying a high price, even 
for a better variety. The kernels should be 
wedged shape With the small end next the cob. 
If we want to iucrease tbe length, ears should 
be saved which are uot filled out at the end. 
This indicates that there is still room for more 
kernels if every thing else were favorable. 
Ears well tipped or filled out to the end are 
not inclined to produce longer ears, but those 
which are shorter. 
For ease in husking, the eob should not be 
very large at the base. I see no objection to a 
eob of some size as it probably costs the plant 
but little effoit to produce so much woody 
matter. An ear with a large ccb would re¬ 
quire more time to dry out thoroughly, but it 
has room for a good deal of corn. Our sea¬ 
son’s are shore and we need a corn which shall 
occupy the whole of the warm weather for 
growth and maturity. We lose three weeks 
of growth and very likely something in yield, 
if our corn ripens by the middle of August, 
wheu it might grow till the end of the last 
week iu September without danger ol frost. 
[ We hold that an agricultural and horticultural 
journal cannot sell the seeds or plants or farm 
implements it announces in its editorial or adver¬ 
tising columns and yet. inspire a high degree of 
confidence in the minds of its readers respecting 
the disinterestedness of Us views, touching the ar¬ 
ticles thus offered for sale.] 
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CORN IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
Editor Rural New Yorker.— Coru, its 
value, different sorts, and methods of cultiva¬ 
tion, by farmers in the different states, is to be 
the initial number of the Rural for 1881, On 
my farm with such cultivatiou as L have ever 
thought best to,give, I have uot yet succeeded 
iu raising one huudred bushels of shelled corn 
on ouc acre, or if so have not done it where 
it has been harvested by itself ; have In some 
instances of trial come very near it, and in 
most cases where that amount is reported to 
be raised it is taken from trial plots and esti¬ 
mated. which is a very loose way of getting at 
the true amount raised. I have no doubt that 
that umouut has been raised on an acre, and 
even more, but that it is a common crop oven 
with good farmers 1 do not believe, nor do I 
think it will be very soon. 
It is usual in this vicinity to plaut our corn 
iu squares to cultivate each way. the distance 
we plant tbe hills apart varies from three 
to four feel, usually about three feet six 
inches, aud to leave four stalks iu a hill. 
Some drill or plant their corn with rows run¬ 
ning only oneway with two or three stalks in 
a plate, about eighteen inches apart iu the 
rows and lh* rows three feet «nd six inches 
apart. Tills method will doubtless yield the 
most corn Dor acre, with more expense in cul¬ 
tivation. Where the soil is mellow aud free 
from weeds, the drill system is no doubt the 
moat productive iu grain, and perhaps in fodder 
also, but with weedy laud the expense of hand 
cultivation would more thau balance the ex¬ 
tra yield of corn or fodder. We do uot in this 
latitude grow the western or southern corn to 
any extent, the Dutton, is one of our best sorts, 
grows abundant crops in both graiu, and fod- 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB. 
der, and ripens with the season in good time 
for the fall harvesting, and is thought one of 
the best sorts by many farmers, while many 
farmers cultivate smaller varieties of eight 
rowed sorts, both white, and yellow. Each 
sort has its advocates, and each is best on dif¬ 
ferent soils no doubt, as the eight rowed sorts 
are usually the earliest to mature and do not 
grow as large 6talka, hence on lighter lands 
are the best sorts to cultivate. 
Our methods of culture are usually by turn¬ 
ing over greensward, with a coat of stable 
manure, either plowed iu or spread on the sur¬ 
face after plowing aud worked in with the 
harrow, or cultivator, and sometimes both, as 
the condition of the soil may require, either 
method usually produces good crops of coru. 
Some of our beat farmers are now using more 
or less commercial fertilizers in the hill, or 
drill at planting time, and think it a paying 
investment, while others who have tried that 
method of manuring think it a waste of money 
iu their purchase. On the whole, the nse of 
commercial fertilizers is on the iucrease. aud 
in some eases there seems no doubt of their 
benefit, but I think every farmer should make 
and use all the manure he cm first ; then a 
little superphosphate to give crops an early 
start, would no doubt be beneficial to the ma¬ 
turing crop at harvest time. Each farmer 
must try the experiment on his own fields, 
and on the crops he cultivates, in order to ob¬ 
tain a correct knowledge of their true value 
for himself whether it will pay him to continue 
to use them, or to abandon their use aud de¬ 
pot d on the farm-yard alone for maDurial 
purposes. I am one of those farmers who 
think that every farmer should experiment for 
himself. The knowledge thus gained is worth 
more than any experiment carried on by other 
persons in different soils and in different sec¬ 
tions of the country. 
Rome, N. Y., Dec., 1880. J. Talcott. 
■ ♦ ♦ » 
CORN NOTES. 
CHARLES A. GREEN. 
Plow sod land, if clay or clay loam, in the 
Fall or early Spring, while the soil is moist. 
Get the soil in good condition if it takes all 
Summer. Make it rich. If we grow a heavy 
crop of corn in niuety days we must give it 
bountiful rations ; hunger must not gnaw at 
its vitals. 
Scatter the fertilizer broadcast, whatever 
it may be, corn is not squeamish iu the mat¬ 
ter of diet. Manuring iu the hill is something 
like piling compost about the trunk of an 
apple tree. You cau not place a handful of 
fertilizer in your corn fields where the corn 
roots will not reach it, unless you thrust it iu 
the fence corner. 
Select the best seed—this crop is exceedingly 
appreciative of attention iu thi6 regard; select 
that which ripens first. Change seed at times, 
securing that grown fnrthei North, as that 
will be likely to ripen earlier, and corn is 
always liable to be overtaken by frost. 
Don’t plant too early; of ihe two evils I 
prefer planting very late to very early. If the 
seed doss not sprout at once after planting, it 
is very liable to injury or total destruction. 
The crop thrives best in hot weather; during 
chilly May days seed corn is safer in the bin. 
I have seen heavy crops from June planting. 
May 20th is the average day of plauting in this 
county. 
Plant with a grain drill at least four feet 
apart between the rows one peck of seed per 
acre aud roll after planting, if at all dry. I 
once had a fine crop with one-half bushel seed 
per acre, butwe thinned out the thickest parts 
with hoes. The drill reduces the cost: 
(1.) By planting it in the time you would 
mark it one way—an entire saving of the 
hand labor and the coru marker, one way. 
(2.) If you desire to apply fertilizers other 
than broadcast, there is no better way than 
with the grain drill. 
(3.) The seed is planted at a more uniform 
depth. 
(4 ) The seed is dropped one after another 
in a direct line, giving the cultivator oppor¬ 
tunity to run very close to it, whereas by 
hand planting the rows are straggling and the 
seed scattering in the hills; thus a strip ofter 
a foot wide is of necessity untouched by the 
cultivator. 
(5.) Instead of four or five stalks beiug 
clumped together iu a cramped position they 
are distributed evenly along the row, giving 
the roots more room for foraging. 
(15) The rows running North and South, 
four feet apart, admit, the suushine to the 
earth and plants more freely than when plant¬ 
ed more closely in hills. 
(7.) In cultivating, those roots that extend 
Uugthwiseof the rows are never disturbed— 
a happy circumstance, aud one earnestly to 
bo sought. 
Cross the rows with smoothing-harrow about 
one week after planting, not fearing that the 
uprooting of a few plants will be disastrous. 
Cultivate early, cultivate often, cultivate late, 
but beware of too deep cultivation [the italios 
are ours— Eds ], especially near the plants 
after the roots have extended. Cultlvate’flrst 
with a flat tooth that runs close to tbe row ; 
afterwards turn the soil to and from the row, 
as tbe case requires, but leave the soil level 
ultimately. 
Cut corn early, while the leaves are green. 
Husk it early, and store the fodder before it 
becomes weather beaten and scented by field 
mice. It coBts us one-seventh to one-eighth 
of the corn crop to get it husked. The western 
practice of feeding from the shock may not 
waste mote thau 100 bushels iu 700. Grinding 
costs one-tenth. Therefore, if we give 100 
bushels for husking 700, and 00 bushels to the 
miller, we have only 540 left. It is not easy 
to waste coru about farm yards, even that 
passed undigested, if chickens and pigs are 
plenty. I suggest that we cut, unbusked, with 
a cutting machine, at least a portion of the 
corn crop. 
The corn field is grand to look upon in its 
glory, in August! It resembles an army of 
tasselled knights, decorated gracefully with 
ribbous, each member of which sports a silk 
pocket handkerchief. 
Monroe County, N. Y. 
-» » » - — 
A HOME-MADE CORN SHELLER. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
I do not design to speak here of corn shell¬ 
ing upon the large 6cale, by horse or steam 
power, but of what may be practically re¬ 
garded as hand shelling, only 6imple and 
cheap tools being used. This is the corn 
shelling of the greater number of New Eng¬ 
land and Eastern farmers. There are thou¬ 
sand- of these who just grow small plots of 
corn for family use. with perhaps a little to 
feed a horse or a few fowls, or to fatten one 
or two pigs. Such need some simple and in¬ 
expensive way of separating the grain from 
the cob. They usually shell across a shovel. 
The little one dollar sheller of P. P. Mast & 
Co., of Springfield, Ohio, is likely to attract 
the attention of many of them, especially as 
it is editorially commended in the Rural. It 
is really worth all that is asked for it, as a 
handy thing to shell a few ears for thehens, or 
a little seed corn. But the claim made that 
thirty bushels can be shelled with if, in a day 
is absurd, and particularly so iF applied to the 
small 8 rowed corn usually grown iu New 
England. This variety of corn runs from 250 
to 300 average ears to the bushel, which would 
give from 7,500 to 9,000 ears to 30 bushels, re¬ 
quiring that from 750 to 900 ears should be 
handled per hour, or from 13 lo 15 ears a min¬ 
ute The real speed with which the work cau 
be carried on is at the rate of from six to ten 
bushels a day, and pretty tired a man will be 
at the end of the day who has shelled his 
bushel an hour. But as a matter of fact this 
implement will not shell the common S-rowed 
Yankee corn at all. It does very good work 
on ten aiul twelve rowed varieties, and on eome 
8-rowed kinds with Urge cobs, like the San¬ 
ford; but the small 8-rowed sorts have too 
small a cob for the spiral-propelling points of 
the tool to get a “bite” on. The other chief 
objection to this corn sheller is that the sand- 
scale is not removed from the castings. They 
are merely lacquered over ou the outside. 
The result is that the man who uses it half a 
day will get pretty sore hands. I was com¬ 
pelled to resort to gloves before shelling an 
hour with it, aud wore out the gloves in five 
davs by the friction against the sides of the 
sheller. Leaving oft the lettering cast in the 
iron, aud applying the castings, where they 
come in eoutaot with the hands in shelling, to 
a good emery wheel for a few moments, 
would, however, remedy this serious objec¬ 
tion. 
CORN SHE LLER,—FIG. 10. 
After a week’s use of Mast’s sheller upon 
sweet. Sanford, and yellow corn. I have re¬ 
turned to my own way, into which I gradu¬ 
ated from the shovel some 40 years ago. This 
is simply the use of a bar of iron laid across a 
box. The box is made of a convenient height 
to sit upon, say twelve or fourteen inches, and 
is eighteen by thirty inches square. This size 
will hold over two bushels. The bar of iron, 
(or letter of steel) should be J by | of an inch 
in size, aud a little longer thau the box Put 
a staple sufficiently large to admit the bar 
into the middleof the upper edge of one end 
of the box, and cut a notch the size of the bar 
in the other end. Put iu the bar, put a piece 
of board across the notched end for a seat, and 
go ahead with your shelliug. I can shell any 
kind of corn with this rig as fast again as I 
can with the Mast sheller. Both hands are 
nsed in the operation, the left clasped lightly 
around the bar between tbe lees of the opera¬ 
tor, while the ear is drawn upward by the 
right haud, the fingers of the left holding it 
firmly against the bar and slightly pushing it 
upwards. Shell two-thirds of the small end 
f rst, then turn and shell the bntt. Two bush¬ 
els of our small corn can be easily shelled in 
an hour, after getting a little accustomed to 
tbe manipulation. I have tried many other 
ways, but none have proved at once so easy 
and so rapid as this. Annexed is a sketch of 
the box and bar. 
[AM of the 500 illustrations yearly presented 
in the columns of the Rural New-Yorker are 
our own reproductions, or drawn and engraved, 
from nature ] 
CORN- 
8. RUFUS MASON. 
There are many farmers who cannot raise 
corn successfolh. They have a crop every year 
to husk out, but it seldom pays a profit, and in 
poor seasons never pays cost of labor. I will 
give such a rnau ten acres of land heavily 
manured, and will take ten acres adjoining 
without manure, and let the season be what it 
may, I will produce more and better corn than 
he will. I will nor, ascribe bis failures to lazi- 
resi, poor team, poor tools, or poor seed, but 
only to a want of appreciation of the require¬ 
ments of this peculiar crop. Gardeners know 
well that beets and cabbages must be hoed 
often, they will bear it almost, il not quite 
constantly, and amply repay tbe time spent, if 
the work is done with judgment. Corn is even 
more snsceptible to thorough and constant cul¬ 
tivation. To be sure, manure is neceesarj, but 
I find that timely cultivation is a sine qua non. 
The time to hoe con), is before It comes up, 
as soon as it is up, and every five days there¬ 
after till the pollen begins to fall, then let it 
rest till the silk turns dark, and then com¬ 
mence again aud continue till in the dough. 
The first cultivation must be quite shallow, the 
next a little deeper, tbe fifth or sixth deepest 
of all, aud then shallower and shallower till 
laid by for the seasou. The object is to drivs 
the roots down into the soil as soon as possible 
that they may he out of reach of July and 
August heats, for iu those months we want 
comparatively cool roots, to supply an abund¬ 
ance of sap for tke powerful growth, aud the 
fil ing up of the grain. I say nothing about 
weeds, as the- dumbest farmer kuows then is 
no market for them, and therefore he need not 
grow them. [Hjw can deep plowiBg drive 
the roots down.— Eds ] 
The surface soil of a corn field should never 
become hide bcuud, it must be kept open and 
loose, and immediately after a heavy rain must 
be attended to before it bakes. The momeutthe 
top soil becomes hard, tbe roots rise to seek 
air, if it is kept loose, they get all they want 
down as deep as five feet or more. 
Much labor is lost by undertaking but a few 
more acres than the farm r can attend to. 
Twenty-five acres cau be made, by one man 
and team, to produce SO bushels per acre, while 
the same force on fifty acres would possibly 
not bring more than thirty, a loss of much 
time and labor, as well as 500 bushels of corn, 
wblle the whole yield of the 50 acres would be 
20 per cent, poorer in quality. 
Almost any of the many varieties of field 
corn, if they have small cob aud deep grains 
will over-run the legal weight (56 pounds per 
bushel), when shelled at New Year's, if well 
grown. Au ear of corn will have but its 
destined number of graius.—if poorly grown 
or if the plant issap starved, the grains will be 
both small and spongy in texture, whicn 
makes light weight, while strong, vigorous 
growth fills every grain out fall aud plump, 
makes the grain compact and solid, and gives 
weight, which is the point to be aimed for. 
Manure well, but all the manure in the world 
will not produce good coru if the plant cannot 
draw breath while feeding. Cultivation is the 
foundation of this, as well as of many other 
crops. 
Dodge Co,, Neb. 
w - 
CORN ON SOD IN A DRY TIME. 
There was a severe drouth through the most 
of New England during the past Summer, In 
some places corn, even ou stubble ground, 
suffered greatly, and was a poor crop. But 
corn endures drouth well wheu the ground is 
well fertilized, aud usually our stubble corn 
will be an average crop. Where corn has 
been planted on a reversed sod, even though 
liberally fertilized, Lho crop is often an entire 
failure. There has uot been moisture enough 
from above to settle the ground aud rot the 
sod. while the dry, fibrous matter of the un- 
rotted sod seems to have cut off the moisture 
from below. The consequence was, in many 
corn fields, that not only the corn, but the 
pumpkins and the beans, which many of our 
farmers still plant among their corn, came to 
nothing, the corn in many places not standing 
more than 4 or 5 feet high, with hardly a nub¬ 
bin, while the bean vines were barren, and 
what few pnmpkius there were, were not big¬ 
ger than a man’s head. Some fields plowed 
with lan-furrows and well worked with the 
Randall or La Dow harrow before planting 
. looked as well as stubble corn. 
| Orleans Co., Vt. t. h, h. 
(Continued, on page 9,) 
