6 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
JAN, 4 
Professor Blount also advised “ W. 8. M.,” 
In the Rural of May 8th, to select for seed 
even-rowed ears and ears whose rows are 
straight. Has the Profeseor ever seen an ear 
which bad not an even number of rows ? Mr. 
A. B. Allen, some time editor of the American 
Agriculturist, and. I think, a present contrib¬ 
utor of the Rural, asserted in the year 1842 
that he had seen an ear which had 21 rows. 
The next year he received numerous commu¬ 
nications to prove to him that he was in error. 
In his replies he is hard put to make out hi6 
case, but finally concludes that things of this 
sort are freaks of nature. 
-»■»-•»- 
[The Rural New-Yorker has in no instance 
sold the plants or seeds raised upon its Experi¬ 
ment Grounds. Our first object is to make 
known the value of new plants through our 
Free Seed and Plant Distributions. We leave it 
to the seedsmen and nurserymen to supply the 
demand thus created ] 
THE RURAL’S ADVICE AS TO THE CUL¬ 
TIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. 
1. Prepare the land thoroughly by harrow¬ 
ing and rolling. The roller breaks up hard 
lumps of earth which the harrow passes over. 
A thorough preparation of the land is as es¬ 
sential as a liberal application of manure. 
2. It is of the first importance to select seeds 
which are the best adapted to the soil and cli¬ 
mate. Experiments have shown that of two 
distinct varieties of dent or flint corn, treated 
in all respects alike and raised upon the same 
field, one has produced fifty bushels of grain 
to the acre more than the other. The best and 
most economical way to ascertain what variety 
of corn is best suited to a given farm is to test 
different varieties upon different plots. These 
plots 6honld be ub far apart as practicable to 
prevent mixing. Plots 33 feet square, one- 
fortieth of an acre, are large enough for the 
purpose and the yield thereon is easily com¬ 
puted. 
3. Drill in the seed, six, or even three 
inches apart. At, the first hoeing plants may 
be cut out so as to leave the distances between 
those remaining suite ! to the size of the va¬ 
riety of corn planted. 
4. A narrow, heavy roller may be advan¬ 
tageously used upon the drills after the seed is 
dropped. This Insures a close contact of the 
soil with the seed and an earlier germination. 
5. Do not use a plow after the seed is 
planted. 
6. Keep the surface of the ground mellow 
and ail weeds subdued. 
7. Cultivate shallow and flat with cul¬ 
tivator and hoe. 
—-+ •» ♦ - 
♦- 
PRACTICAL RESULTS VS. POSSIBILITIES 
WITH CORN. 
COL. F. I>. CURTIS. 
The possibilities of corn crops are problem¬ 
atical, but the probabilities are very much in 
ine with practical experience. Every farmer 
of common intelligence knows that the more 
he feeds his corn crop the more he feeds his 
corn crib. If the average farmer can raise 50 
bushels of shelled corn to the acre, he is well 
atisfled with his cron. This yield, however, 
exceptional, as the average wouid not be as 
much. Mr. D. F. Wicks raised this year 1,300 
bushels of ears of corn on 11 acres. This is 
considered in this latitude (43 deg ) to be an 
unusually fine crop. Alexander Davidson, 
Esq., just across the road, must have had 
equally as good a yield. 
These fine crops were produced by a liberal 
sprinkling of barnyard manure, which was 
thoroughly harrowed in on au upturned green¬ 
sward. It was not the manure or the soil alto¬ 
gether (although the land was in good heart) 
which produced these crops, but the important 
auxiliary of early aud constant cultivation of 
the corn itself. Fanners are getting in a lax 
way of not hoeing their com or cultivating it 
as much as formerly. 
In olden times, when cultivators were crude 
implements, a great deal of hand-hoeing was 
necessary. Now, with improved cultivators, 
many go to an opposite extreme and do not 
hoe at all. This is a mistake. Nothing will 
give a young plant a good start and keep It. 
growing better than 6tirrlng the ground 
and putting fresh soil around It. It 
takes hand labor to do this, and it should be 
done as Boon as the plants are well started, 
The crust on top of the hill which has been 
formed while the corn has been coming up 
needs to be broken and mellowed so that the 
dews and heat may readily penetrate to the 
young rootlets. Wheutlero is a scarcity of 
manure, experience and observation have both 
taught us that it is always best to apply it 
directly in the hill with a slight covering of 
earth on it, npon which plant the 6eed. We 
made four loads of sheep manure, applied in 
this manner, go a long ways, covering several 
acres last Spring with most satisfactory results. 
The next most important consideration in 
the growing of corn is the selection of seed. 
Everybody knows that there are varieties of 
corn suited to latitudes, but everybody does 
not know that corn can be made thoroughbred, 
that is to say, that it can be so grown that it 
will possess characteristics or innate qualities 
which fit it not only for latitudes, but for spe¬ 
cial soils and conditions, aud a nature also, or 
aptitude, to take care of itself under unfavor¬ 
able circumstances. For instance, with two 
kinds of corn adapted to the same latitude, 
one will not, in a cold, unfavorable season, 
produce anything, whereas the other, by pos¬ 
sessing a strong nature, notwithstanding the 
unfavorable surroundings, would yield a good 
ciop. Take another case, one kind of corn, 
12 rowed Dutton, as we have exf/hrieneed, on 
poor land produced no cars of any account, 
whereas Smut White yielded a fair crop. On 
land excessively rich the 12 rowed kind would 
probably afford the largest yield. 
The adaptation of the variety 
of corn can best be determined 
by practical experience. We suc¬ 
ceeded mis year in raising a good 
crop of corn on poor 60 il by trav¬ 
eling backwards. We sought out 
au old farmer who lived on a 
farm with thin soil and obtained 
our seed from him. We said “ we 
didn't want 8hort - horns on 
moors.” This farmer had bred 
his own corn for half a lifetime 
—the same variety on the same 
farm. Every year he had gone 
into the field and selected the ear¬ 
liest and the Lest ears, taking 
them where there were two on a 
stalk. 
This corn had become adapted 
to his soil and he was always sure 
of a crop, even if the season was 
unfavorable. It was indigenous. 
By his system of selecting the 
earliest and the fittest he had 
reduced the time for growth to 
less than 80 days. This seed, on 
an old pasture this year, without 
manure, produced a fair crop of 
corn. A11 over the piece there 
could he seen the effort to pro¬ 
duce two ears on a stalk, although 
many of them were short. It is a 
mistake also to mix seed corn, 
that is, to plant several varieties 
together, as the dropping of the 
pollen is not uniform and the ef¬ 
fect is like planting one hill of 
corn by itself, as the different 
varieties will vary in the maturing 
of their pollen. 
We do noi oeneve, so far t*a 
corn is concerned, in changing 
seed. It is more sensible to im¬ 
prove the old seed rather than to 
import strange varieties, which, 
as we have found, are totally un¬ 
suited to our use. The nearer we 
can make our corn indigenous to 
our own farm the better, and then 
improve the same by the best 
culture. 
-«-•_*- 
SOME MISTAKES IN CORN CULTURE. 
HXNKY STEWABT. 
Corn is the most prolific grain we grow. An 
average ear contains 500 grains and there are 
varieties which produce nearly 1000 grains np¬ 
on an ear. An easily possible crop is 100 bush¬ 
els of grain per acre and the stalks are worth 
several times as much as any straw. Corn 
serves more useful purposes than any other 
grain. Itis not only an agreeable, nutritious 
and healthful human food, an acceptable and 
profitable food for every one of our domesti¬ 
cated animals, but it is the basis of several 
very useful aud important manufactured sta¬ 
ples. If by some unforecen accidents every 
other grain crop, every root crop, and all onr 
grass and other fodder crops were lost to us, 
we could still survive aud prosper if only corn 
were spared. Mankind could still be abund¬ 
antly, variously and agreeably fed; our beef 
would still be provided ; our pork, our mut¬ 
ton aud onr poultry would be sure ; the dairy 
would not suffer for necessary fodder and 
grain food; the housekeeper would have her 
starch and her syrup ; and the children, even, 
might not miss their favorite candies. In its 
place as only one of our field products it pro¬ 
vides employment for a vast army of men; it 
furnishes freight for five million railroad box 
ears every year ; a number, which if placed 
in line, would reach 30.000 miles, or starting 
from 8a*i Francisco eastward would lap 
around the world and leave a second line reach¬ 
ing over to Central Europe; aud which pass¬ 
ing at the rate of one every two seconds would 
require 300 days of 10 hours each to pass by 
any stationary observer At the same time 
there is no other product whose nee is so 
steadily extending year by year or which can 
more easily bear a steady increase. 
This being the case, the importance of con¬ 
sidering how the product of this grain may 
be increased can scarcely be over estimated. 
Some yearB ago when discussing the possi¬ 
bility of largely increasing the.prodnct of 
wheat. I was met with an objection by a 
prominent agricultural writer to the effect 
that it was not wise to argue in favor of in¬ 
creasing the yield of wheat, because there was 
only a limited demand for it and a large sur¬ 
plus would be unsalable. Having been used 
to consider, as an economical fact, that de¬ 
mands are created by supply, rather than sup¬ 
plies are brought out by demand, and seeing 
this fact exemplified in most surprisingly 
varied cases every day, I have never had any 
fear in urging farmers to enlarge their pro¬ 
ducts in every possible way. And the fact 
that a yearly product of nearly 500,000,000 
bushels of wheat can now be disposed ot with¬ 
blount's white prolific.—fig. 9. 
out difficulty, ought to show that if our corn 
crop were to be doubled within the next ten 
years every bushel would doubtless be 6old or 
used to advantage. 
I firmly believe that within the next decade 
our total corn crop may reach to 3,000,000,000 
of bushels and that every bushel will find a 
use or a market. Further, I believe that this 
vast quantity which is about 1,000 bushels to 
each farm in the United States may be grown 
upon no more than an average of 10 acres to 
each farm, yielding an average of 100 bushels 
per acre. For a great change has occurred 
within the past few years in corn growing. A 
dozen years ago when any enthusiastic person 
hinted at a crop of 100 bushels per acre, he 
was treated with derision, and the farmers 
who grew such a crop were few and far be¬ 
tween. Now, oue can scarcely pick up an 
agricultural paper without noticing some re¬ 
port of a crop of 100 bushels per acre or over. 
No one doubts it now. And no farmer who 
has succeeded in growing 100 bushels npon an 
acre doubts or can doubt that he can do con¬ 
siderably better if he will only avoid some 
mistakes which he can plainly see has reduced 
the possible yield of his crop. 
There are some very frequent mistakes made 
in growing corn. These are due, perhaps, to 
too rigid a conservatism on the part of 
farmers. It is judicious to observe a conser¬ 
vative practice in the main, bnt it is at the 
same time wise to try new methods in a safe 
manner. Every farm must be worked and 
managed to a great extent by its own code of 
rnles, and what Mr. Jones finds proper to do in 
his fields and with his own system, may not be 
right for Mr. Smith over the way to do. So 
that one whose bread depends npon his crops 
should not risk it by making innovations un¬ 
til he has made himself sure by repeated tests 
that it is entirely 6afe Now it will be quite 
safe for every farmer who plows his corn 
deeply between the rows to try an acre or half 
an acre with flat cultivation instead of plow¬ 
ing. It is a mistake to put a plow into a corn¬ 
field after the plant? are a month old. At that 
age, I have traced corn roots entirely across 
the rows, and intermingling with those ot ad¬ 
jacent rows. I 1 cannot be rieht to cut and 
tear those roots and deprive the plants of their 
months by which they feed, or to confine them 
to a narrow strip of soil of only two feet wide. 
I know it is not right for me to do so. When 
I first used a Share’s horse hoe for cultivating 
com nearly 20 years ago, I was first encour¬ 
aged to try to grow large crops of com, for I 
found fiat cnltivation greatly increased the 
yield. More recently I was still more forcibly 
taught that plowing corn was a mistake. A 
field of sweet corn was partly cultivated with 
a horse hoe and a part was plowed. A stub¬ 
born hired maD, who thought his plan was the 
best, and in spite of orders, plowed four acres 
very deeply, earthing up the com sever¬ 
al inches. It was as severe a case of root- 
pruning as one could wish for. The conse¬ 
quence was that from that day the plowed com 
stopped growing, and yielded not one ear, 
while the rest ot the field produced more than 
eleven thousand ears to the acre. Root-prun¬ 
ing com is a serious mistake and deep plowing 
among com is root-pruning. Another mistake 
is in suffering barren stalks to mature pollen 
in the fields. 
It is the presence of these barren plants in a 
field which so largely decreases the yield. 
Some kinds of com, grown without selection 
and without care to prevent fertilization by 
barren plants, will produce two barren stalks 
out of five; other kinds which have been care¬ 
fully bred only from perfect plants will have 
rarely a barren plant upon a whole acre, and 
this one should be carefully emasculated. This 
is a proceBB of emasculation to prevent breed¬ 
ing from undesirable male plants, and is pre¬ 
cisely parallel to the same method practised 
with animals. It is therefore a mistake to 
neglect it. 
A mistake Is also made in fertilizing. Cora 
may bo over-fertilized. It is over-fertilized 
when upon good or rich soil a large dose of 
artificial fertilizer is used ; or when a too lib¬ 
eral quantity of the common home-made fer¬ 
tilizer, poultry manure and wood ashes mixed, 
is applied in the hill. Cora requires repeated 
moderate fertilizings, npon moderately good 
soil to begin with. As for instance, 100 to 150 
lbs. per acre at the planting, and a simitar ap¬ 
plication at intervals twice during the grow¬ 
ing season. The best crop of corn I have 
grown had at the rate of 600 lbs. of special fer¬ 
tilizers in tljree doses, one at planting, cne at 
the second cultivation, and one when the tas¬ 
sel first appeared. Large applications of spe¬ 
cial fertilizer, before and immediately after 
planting are useful upon poor an manured soil; 
but when other manures are used, the special 
fertilizer should be given at intervals. It is a 
mistake to force the crop to too vigorous leaf 
growth in its early Btages. A portion of ac¬ 
ceptable soluble food is especially beneficial 
when the ears are beginning to form. Fre¬ 
quent cnltivation is also beneficial up to the 
latest possible period. 
Hill planting is also a mistake. Nearly 
twice as many plants may be grown by plant¬ 
ing in drills. Hills, 3 feet by S apart, give 9 
square feet for each. Drills 4 feet apart and 
seed at 2 1-4 feet apart, give also 9 feet. But 
by planting 18 inches apart in 4 feet drills there 
are 50 per cent, or one-half more plants on the 
same ground, and almost invariably the crop 
yields about the same proportionate increase 
of ears. Od a plot of about 3 acres of ever¬ 
green sweet corn, part planted 3x3 and part 
3xlJ, apart, the latter portion gave fully as 
good ears and twice as mauy to the row as 
the thinner planted. The increase in fodder 
alone in drill planting, even if nothing is 
gained ‘id ears, is sure and sufficiently profita¬ 
ble, but the increase in grain is rarely less than 
25 per cent. If this is true, hill planting is a 
mistake, and if the cultivation is made by a 
good horse-hoe, and is begun before the weeds 
start and when the plants are small, the 
gronnd ma y b e kept very clean 'even when 
planted in drills. 
