JAN. 4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
or even 1000 pounds per acre than 200. If it 
be granted that the application of 1000 pounds 
of a $50 fertilizer will increase the yield from 
25 to 50 bushels, then that amount can be prof¬ 
itably applied. Yet, as the Rural has several 
times shown, a man may have to test every 
field on bis farm to find out what fertilizers 
are adapted to it. 
Cuzco Corn. 
Last Spring I purchased ten kernels of this 
corn from J. J. H. Gregory, Marblehead. Mass., 
and planted them about the 20th of April in 
my garden. Six of them came up and grew. 
All were in tassel about, the 3()th of .July. Sev¬ 
eral weeks elapsed after that before any shoots 
appeared, and two of the stalks never bore any 
Bhoots at all. None of the stalks exceeded 11 
feet in bight and two of them were not over 
nine feet. As I watched this corn from time 
to time I observed that the blades as high up 
as the seventh joint were stripped away from 
the stalk as if some one had caught hold of 
them and jerked them down. I at, first sup¬ 
posed that the children had done this, but on a 
closer examination 1 fouud that it was caueed 
by the brace-roots, which came out at every 
joint as high as I have mentioned and pushed 
the blades off the stalk. This shows that the 
corn must grow very tall in its native country 
to need to much bracing as this. It is of a 
different species from our varieties. [It is 
possibly Zea maerospeima. See Rural, March 
13. 1880.— Eds ] The stalk for three or four 
feet from the ground is of a dark brown color, 
and the ears grow in clusters, not singly as in 
our kinds when they bear moro than 
one ear to the stalk. One center 
shoot first appears and then frequently 
as many as seven or eight shoots grow 
out of the sides of this. The ears are 
not longer or larger than our nub¬ 
bins. The kernels grow, not as in our 
corn, perpendicular to the cob, but at 
an oblique angle to it, which accounts 
for the great length and breadth. 
Ouly one of the stalks matured its 
ears, and this was owing to accident. 
It was blown down by the wind and 
nearly all of its roots broken. I tied it 
up to a stake and it hardened its grain 
about the last of Oetober. You will 
see by the sample I send you that the 
kernels are much diminished in size. 
^ [The kernels were not received.— 
L Eds] The kernels on the other stalks 
reached their full size, but were still 
very soft on the 20th of October, 
when they were destroyed by the frost. 
This corn could probably be adapted to 
the climate of Virginia in the course 
of three or four years, but it is doubt¬ 
ful whether it would be worth the 
effort. 
But farmers have no desire to know how such 
large quantities of these cereals can be raised 
if they must be raised at a cost of five dollars 
per bushel to sell in market, the one atone 
dollar and the other at fifty cents or less. They 
have no earthly use for such knowledge, unless 
it be for the gratification of an idle curiosity. 
Here, then we are. brought face to face with 
the question whether tbe use of commercial 
fertilizers on the corn crop is at all profitable. 
Iain inclined to answer no, to this question. 
If a small quantity of feitilizer be nsrd, it 
produces no effect, if a larger, the Increased 
yield does not pay for the extra expense. 
The report of tlm Cornell University experi¬ 
ment station shows that in no case was the in¬ 
creased yield of cither wheat or corn sufficient 
to pay for the fertilizers applied to produce it. 
(See Rural of July 24, '80 ) I saw recom¬ 
mended in some agricultural paper the appli¬ 
cation of one half pint of bone dust to tbe hill 
of corn. A good article of bone dust costs 
here, inclusive of freight ,$50 a ton. Now it can 
easily be shown that using even a gill of this 
manure to a hill of corn will require nearly a 
ton to the acre. If, then, we say that on land 
which before brought 50 bushels per acre, this 
application increased the yield to 100 bushels, 
it will take the whole crop at 50 cents per 
bushel to pav for the fertiliz-r. The estimated 
yield of the Rural's Blount corn this year as 
reported in its issue of Nr v. 13, is 142 bushels. 
This bus been in part secured by the use of 
500 pounds of fertilizers. Jt is fair to presume 
that the cost of these manures was $10 per 
two pounds in weight per day with a ration 
of ten pounds straw aud two hundred pounds 
turnips. Five pounds of oil meal are theoreti¬ 
cally equivalent to one hundred pounds of 
turnips but when substituted for them, the bul¬ 
lock ceases to gain in weight$ that is, turnips 
are worth more than they are credited with, 
or oil meal is worth less. Mv judgment is, 
that corn as au animal food, is usually rated 
much below its real feeding value. 
Dr — 
Labor up to harvest... - $?6 *6 
“ stookincr. 60 011 
“ harvestinpr.234 07 
138 bags Htoekbridgrt corn .. 579 90 
Total cost ..$912 82 
Qj*, _ 
52 32-100 tons stovor at. $8. $418 50 
Cost of 3.474 baskets or oars of coru.$554 2G 
17.4 acres, yield per aero...199.0 bushel**. 
Cost per basket.. ..16 cents- 
Iu farm measurement two baskets of ears aie 
called one bushel of shelled corn. As a matter 
of fact, sale being by weight, two baskets yield 
one bushel and one quart of shelled coru by 
measure, or 62 pouuds by weight, or 1 1-10 
bu°hel corn at 56 pounds to the bushel. Tins 
makes the yield read 1)9.8 bushels shelled com 
by measure, or 109} by weight. This is a 
reliable farm yield, without extra cost or ap¬ 
pliance, of 109} bushels shelled corn of prime 
quality on 17 4 acres of land. 
CORN NOTES FROM VIRGINIA 
UUGU L. WYSOR. 
Commercial Fertilisers. 
I presume it was the Rural’s object last 
year in offeiing premiums for the greatest yield 
of Blount’s Prolific corn on a certain specified 
plot, to ascertain in some measure how much 
corn it is possible to raise on an acre without 
regard to the cost of cultivation or the profits 
of the crop. Til mv mind a far more impor¬ 
tant problem which needs solution is, how 
much corn can profitably Ire raised on an acre, 
taking into consideration the use of commer¬ 
cial fertilizers. This problem must be extended 
to embrace a method which shall be practically 
appliable to at least five acres. 
Now the methods usually followed in rais¬ 
ing premium crops are not such as can be 
adopLd in a field of the size mentioned, much 
less in one still larger, nor, for the same rea¬ 
son, can a fraction of an acre, cultivated at 
great trouble aud expense, show what may be 
[ We shall continue throughout the present year 
our original illustrations of Pears, Apples , 
Grapes, Peaches and Small Fruits of all kinds. J 
NOTES ON CORN 
PROFESSOR X. P. ROBERTS 
After twelve years of experimenting and 
careful observation, I am led to the following 
conclusions which, however, subsequent 
knowledge will doubtless modify or perhaps 
entirely overturn. They are all based ou 
carefully conducted experiments and I 
prefer to give the results of my work 
in this condensed form rather than in 
extended tables of details. Soluble 
commercial fertilizers, if used in large 
quantities, should be applied broadcast, 
one hall just after the corn is culti¬ 
vated the first time. The reason why 
superphosphates appear to do so little 
good the first year, is that the soil is 
rich in lime and the phosphoric acid 
combines with the lime in the soil and 
for the time being, becomes insoluble. 
The plant food is not thrown away 
though no present increase appears, 
and will benefit the succeeding crops 
as the locked-up phosphoric acid be- > 
comes slowly soluble. i 
Farm manures give better results ^ 
when applied in the Fall or early Win- % 
ter than when applied just before plow- 
ing iu the Spring. 
Fall or early Spring plowiug when ^ 
done uuder proper conditions aud when VV 
the soil is iu other respects carefully ^ 
prepared before planting, gives far V NJ 
better results than late plowing, ex- / 
cept on clover lees, when by late plow- V 
ing, quite a growth of clover may be j 
turned over. In those localities where V 
the seasons are so short or so cool or ^ ; 
where the soil is so cold that the larger \ 
varieties of corn do not do as well as 
the smaller or flint varieties, the plow¬ 
ing, if done iu the Spring should not 
usually exceed six inches in depth. 
Iu cold soils, or cool climates, mod¬ 
erate ridgiug is very beneficial, if not 
done In too dry weather; heavy ridging 
is admissable in continued cool, wet 
weather. Warm, light Boils in almost 
any climate, and almost any soil in a 
dry or hot climate, give better results 
with fiat culture. In most localities 
in the Eastern and middle States, drill 
culture gives the best and most eco¬ 
nomical results both iu corn aud 
"stover” after one has lcuiucd to seed 
thickly, to cultivate extremely close 
while the plants are young, aud to cut 
out with the hoe the surplus and 
weakly plants. With larger varieties 
of corn in most of the great corn dis¬ 
tricts of the West where laud is cheap 
and labor dear, and where "stov ir" is 
of comparatively small value, hill cul¬ 
ture is to be preferred. 
From five to twenty-five bushels in¬ 
crease per acre is often due entirely to 
Corn Plnnted After Harvest. 
I purchased one-half bushel of eight- 
rowed white Flint coru of Messrs. B. 
lv. Bliss & Sons, and planted two and 
one-half acres iu it after having re¬ 
moved a wheat crop which had grown 
on the land. The corn was got in 
between tbe i3t aud 5th of July, and 
matured perfectly by the 1st of Octo¬ 
ber, yielding about 30 bushels per acre. 
This variety does net grow taller than 
six feet, and the yield would have 
been greater if I had made the rows 
two and a half feet apart instead of 
three feet. The field was sown down 
to clover in August and a fine set 
obtained. There were ouly two things 
particularly uoticcablc about tbe crop. 
One was that there was not a single 
ear which had not one or more corn- 
worms in it. The other goes to confirm 
what Professor Thomas has said about 
the new wheat enemy iu the Fair Num¬ 
ber of the Rural. About one-fifth 
of the plants perished within three 
weeks from the time they appeared 
above ground. All of the diseased 
plants that 1 examined had several of 
the maggots described by Professor 
Thomas in the pith of the stalk, 
which caused the center roll of leaves 
seed of superior quality or variety. . . K 
Superior culture and fertility though 
unimproved seed is planted, if it is aided by 
selection for a single year, often give to the 
product the tendency iu after years to produce 
from three tofivu bushels more per acre than 
the normal yield of the variety; by proper 
management this tendency to increased yield 
may be carried still further but no succeeding 
year is liable to give such marked results as 
the first. 
Root pruning iu rich soils in moist or wet 
weather when growth is very rapid, is apt to 
be beneficial; in dry hotweather.it is quite 
as apt to be injurious. Suekeriug com, tak¬ 
ing oue year with another, diminishes the 
yield. The feeding value of com for milch 
cows, young cattle and work horses, based ou 
chemical analysis, is far less than its real feed¬ 
ing value. To illustrate: in Scotland they 
11 ..* * i jii.i jin (tito 
(a) Kernels of Tassel, Natural Size, (b) Tassel of " Podded” Com (Wild Corn of America7) Reduced one-tblrd.-Flg. 7. 
done on a single acre, not to speak of five or 
ten acres. Dr. Chamberlin's yield at the rate 
of over 186 bushels per aero, compared with 
the Rural’s yield of 142 bushels, shows this 
conclusively. Prof. Blount’s crop of from 70 
to 96 bushels through a period of several years I 
without fertilizers was a more profitable crop 
than if ho hud raised ISO bushels following the 
method of Dr. Chamberlin or that of any of 
the winners of premiums, and applying it to 
the ten acres ho mentions iu the Rural ol 
March (ith. Indeed, auy such method would 
have brought him heavily Iu debt. 
I remember that oue agricultural paper ad¬ 
vertised as oue of Us merits that it taught far¬ 
mers how to raise 60 bushels of wheat or 100 
bushels of com per acre. This was well 
enough, provided it taught at the same time 
how these two things could be done with profit. 
acre, as no high grade fertilizer can be bought 
for less than $40 a ton. It would require, then, 
an iucreaeed yield of 25 bushels per acre, al¬ 
lowing the price of corn to be 40 cents, to pay 
for the manures. If the soil simple would 
have produced 117 bushels, the fertilizer has 
beeu of no value; if more than that, it has 
brought the Rural in debt for its use. The 
uncertainty with which all commercial man¬ 
ures act—depending as they do upon the char¬ 
acter of the seasons and the soil—and our Igno¬ 
rance of what the soil is in need of. will always 
render their application of doubtful value. 
The case of wheat, however, is quite differ¬ 
ent from that of corn, because wheat brings a 
much better price in the market. Ou wheat, 
it yet remains to he settled how small or how 
large a quantity of fertilizer may be used with 
profit. It might be more profitable to use 500 
35 *■ to wither, as iu the ease of tbe wire- 
worm. These maggots came, no doubt, out of 
the wheat stubble which hud been turned 
under. 
Prof, mount's Theory About Coru. 
In all the advertisements of the White Prolific 
corn, it has been stated as Professor Blount’s 
theory that every joiut which has a groove 
should bring an ear or a shoot. This language 
would seem to imply that there are joints on a 
stalk which have no grooves. If I understand 
what is meant by a groove, all the joints have 
it. Why not say, then, that every joint should 
bear ao ear ? By the way. the Rural's last 
experiment has proven that a variety of corn 
hearing three or four small ears to the stalk 
possesses no advantage over a variety hearing 
one largo ear, for it is yet iu doubt whether 
the Blount has yielded more thap the Mam¬ 
moth Chester, 
