o 
poultry manure, wood ashes and plaster. This 
old-fashioned fertilizer has in it, all that the 
modern formulas provide—nitrogen, phospho¬ 
ric acid, potash aud lime; and the useful effect 
upon the soil in a chemical way, of those ma¬ 
terials. as well. But thore must be something 
else. If stimulating fertilizers are used in the 
hill or drill, manure must bo provided outside 
and near at hand to furnish food as soon as 
the former have been exhausted. So that there 
should be either a bountiful provision of ma¬ 
nure in the hill or drill and a good dressing of 
soluble fertilizer iu the soil outside of those, or 
v.icp versa. Either will answer the purpose re¬ 
quired. 
The next point is cultivation. This should 
be immediately after the seed is sown or at 
least before a weed is to be seen. By running 
the cultivator in the rows very soon after 
planting, the soil is loosened, the young 
sprouting weeds are killed outright before 
they have done any harm, aud the manure and 
soil are more closely intermingled. What¬ 
ever may be the effect otherwise of cultiva¬ 
tion of the soil, we know that it helps the 
crop. The best crops are raised by the use 
of the plow, occasionally, in the rows. It may 
be the root pruning as is claimed by Dr. 
bturtevaut; it may be the mellowing aud 
aerating of the soil : it may be that the soil is 
kept moist about the roots by covering them, 
more deeply ; or it may be all of these; but 
it is certaiuly true that the big crops that 
have been grown have been cultivated with 
tiie plow more or less, Suekeriug may be 
dispensed with. Indeed with some varieties of 
corn, this habit of suekeriug adds to the yield, 
as the early suckers often bear ears. The 
stripping of the suckers stimulates the growth 
of stalk, aud that is to be avoided when we 
are endeavoring to produce grain. Nothing 
remains to be done after tills when the at¬ 
tempt is made to grow a crop of unusual yield, 
a dressing of lot) lbs per acre of dissolved bone 
or Peruvian guano of low grade in ammonia, 
may be cultivated in at the last working. 
I bis will help the formation of ears, and as 
it will cost from 83 to 84.50 per acre, 0 to 
10 bushels of corn per acre extra will pay for 
it. The filliug out of all the imperfect ears 
will far more thau make up this quantity, 
and every corn grower knows how many im¬ 
perfect ears there arc in the best crop grown. 
From recent, successes in growing largo crops 
of corn, itia didieult to say what the full pos¬ 
sibilities of this crop may be: 100 bushel., per 
acre are now frequently grown and i t is thought 
possible that this yield may be greatly sur¬ 
passed. The truth is we are about now be¬ 
ginning to learn how to grown corn. 
CORN CULTURE. 
COXItAD WII.SON, 
Conditions of Success. 
Success in corn culture depends on condi¬ 
tions that are not only numerous but very 
important; aud the more clearly the farmer 
understands them, the more easily and surely 
will he be able to comply with them, and to 
win the prizes they hold out. The leading 
questions that enter into the final yield and 
profit of corn are; 
1. The natural fertility of the soil. 
2. The question of fertilizers and manures. 
3. The various problems of tillage 
4. The variety of graiu planted. 
5. The question of pedigree. 
0. The distance in pluuting, etc. 
Each of these lias an influence on the crop 
much greater than most of us perceive, and 
helps to determine not only the yield, but also 
the quality and the cost. Vet it is amazing 
how many practical men lose sight of nearly 
all these factors, aud rest their hope of a max¬ 
imum yield on giving special attention to a 
few leading conditions, by which the profit 
is supposed to be mainly determined. 
The Homl to Smecess. 
One mau, for example, gives great atten¬ 
tion to 'plant-food and little heed to anything 
else. Another is all engrossed with the prob¬ 
lems of UUatje, and discovers but little value 
in the other factors. A third attaches ex¬ 
ceptional importance to the variety of the 
grain, or the question of pedigree, and so 
oil to the eud of the catalogue. But rarely 
do we meet with the farmer who is wise enough 
to divide his attention fairly between all the 
esseutial conditions that belong to a maximum 
crop. Vet It is entirely true, and not to bo 
denied, that very fair results are often reached, 
eveu in spite of important factors having been 
overlooked, and it is also true and still more 
remarkable, tkut among all the corn products 
yet recorded, there is not a single ease iu 
which all the elements of success are included 
or even recognized. 
This fact is exceedingly suggestive, aud 
teaches some useful lessons. And especially 
it teaches in what direction we are to look lor 
progress hereafter. If the largest yield and 
lowest cost of eorn yet reached by the foremost 
farmers are the result of merely limited and 
partial attention to the true conditions, while 
many essential factors have been neglected, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
what may we not expect from the coming 
farmer, when ail the conditions of suc¬ 
cess will be more clearly perceived, and more 
perfectly worked out. Does not this view help 
to explain the strange contrast often witnessed 
between the present average of corn produc¬ 
tion and the higher results frequently reached 
by practical farmers ; and does it not tend to 
show how the possibilities realized by the lat¬ 
ter may yet become the average yield of the 
country ? 
It is gratifying to notice, that 
More Rational Views, 
than formerly, are now held in regard to maxi¬ 
mum crops. While reflecting men, on one 
hand, do not claim that exceptional yields ob¬ 
tained on fractional areas of land, are, in any 
sense, a fair test for entire acres, so, on the 
other baud, practical farmers no longer claim 
that their own experience is the necessary 
limit of production. They frankly admit that 
larger yields are often obtained by those who 
comply with the essential conditions. Farmers 
of tliis class hesitate to accept accounts of un¬ 
usual yields without vigorous proof; but when 
thus proved they admit them at their true 
value, as exceptions to a general rule. In 
tills they are right; for it sometimes happens 
that too much is claimed for a maximum 
yield. 
If a mau with persistent energy, aud favor¬ 
able conditions succeeds iu getting 150 bush¬ 
els of corn per acre, with also a reduction 
of cost, even if he proves the fact beyond any 
doubt, still it does not follow that all others 
can do the same, or even that he himself can 
repeat it. Yet it is, none the less, a grand 
achievement, aud stands out as an evidence 
of what may he accomplished. If timid men 
get alarmed, or discouraged by such evidences 
of progress, that is their own fault, hut not at 
all a reason why successful men should sup¬ 
press their triumphs, or conceal valuable 
facts from the public. Earnest farmers of 
true fiber and pluck always find in such con¬ 
spicuous examples an inspiration that ani¬ 
mates I heir efforts, aud impels them forward. 
Let me now refer briefly to a few examples 
tending to illustrate the main question in hand, 
which is the importance of all the factors that 
belong to a maximum yield. 
Distance iu I'lanting. 
'I lie crop of 120 bushels per acre, raised 
many years since by Jesse Buel; the yield of 
132 bushels resulting from an experiment by 
Samuel Cliidsey of Cayuga Co., N. Y.; the 
remarkable product of 100 bushels per acre, 
obtained by Major Williams of Kentucky; 
and the still larger result of 170 bushels per 
acre by the Pratts of Madison Co., N. Y., were 
all of them largely attributed to the effect of 
close planting in drills. Though other factors 
of course had some influence on the yield, yet 
this question of distance iu planting having 
received special attention, was reasonably con¬ 
sidered a special cause of success. 
Riant Food. 
Iii the remarkable crop raised by A. Camp¬ 
bell of Owego, N. Y., the cost of produc¬ 
tion, with all the laclors included, was less 
than 10 cents per bushel, on a yield of 100 
bushels of grain, and live tons of stulks. In 
this case, the abundance and variety of the 
plant-food added to the soil, were the special' 
feature of the crop, and the real cause of suc¬ 
cess. 
Tillage. 
When Joseph Harris announced a profit of 
nearly $700 on his memorable corn crop of 15 
acres, it was shown that the result was mainly 
due to the exceptional amount of tillage per¬ 
sistently applied to the crop both before plant¬ 
ing aud during the growth. 
In another case, the surprising result ob¬ 
tained by J. W. Dickey of Pennsylvania, (169 
bush, per acre,) was mainly the outcome of 
both the conditions last named. It was due in 
part to the efficacy of sheep manure long accu¬ 
mulated, and in part to the telling influence of 
thorough tillage which, as in the case of Har¬ 
ris, was often repeated both before aud after 
planting. 
Pedigree. 
Again, the recent efforts of enterprising men 
who have investigated the prolific capacity cf 
this cereal, clearly prove the great importance 
of pedigree, aud show that the transmission of 
quality by descent is destined to become an 
Important clement of success The results ob¬ 
tained by Mr. A. E.Blunt, In Tennessee,Dr. 8lur- 
tevant in Massachusetts, and others who have 
practically examined the subject, clearly Indi¬ 
cate the possibility, not only of greatly In¬ 
creasing the number of ears on the stalk, but 
of transmitting this quality so as to insure a 
pennaiumt increase of yield per acre. 
Conclusions. 
From this cursory view of the possibilities, 
as well as the actual products often resulting, 
or mainly resulting from single causes, or 
from a few conditions only, we may derive the 
following instructive suggestions: 
If the intensive development of a slugle ele¬ 
ment of success shows such striking results in 
the yield aud proflt of corn, what would be the 
effect, should the farmer distribute the same 
energy aud skill among all the processes of 
the crop, giving equal aud uniform attention 
to all the. conditions of success ? 
In other words, if intelligent farmers would 
combine these best methods, applying plant- 
food with the liberality and judgment of 
Campbell, Compton, Parker and others ; if 
they would test the value of tillage with the 
courage aud faith of Harris aud Dickey; giv¬ 
ing ilio same prominence to pedigree as Stur- 
tevant aud Blunt, and adapting the spaces in 
planting to the varieties of graiu, and to a 
maximum yield, after the manner of Williams 
and Pratt; how can we help seeing that by 
thus giving the full benefit of natural laws to 
all the conditions on which the crop depends, 
they would increase in the same ratio the 
amount and certainty of the yield, as well as 
the rate of profit. 
Of course, there are some who will lie ready 
to exclaim that all this is impossible. In reply, 
it only needs to be said, that all this may be 
accomplished with comparatively little diffi¬ 
culty, and with large remuneration, whenever 
American farmers will adopt, as they easily 
may, a system of experiments adapted to pro¬ 
duce sueli results. 
-*-♦-*- 
CORN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 
UUGH L. WVSOE. 
As the time is approaching when farmers 
will begin to prepare for spring planting, aud 
as the seedsmen in their catalogues are already 
beginning to offer different varieties of seed 
corn, perhaps a few observations in reference 
to the seed and the cultivation of this cereal, 
derived from tny own experience, may not 
prove uninteresting to your readers. 
In Johnson's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 
we are informed that there are only live origi¬ 
nal varieties of corn cultivated iu the Middle 
and Southern States, and that all other varie¬ 
ties are only intermixtures in some form or 
other of these five, to which by careful selec¬ 
tion year by year they may be brought back. 
These five are described as being the big and 
the little white Hint, the big aud the little yel¬ 
low flint, and the white Virginia gourd seed. 
The yellow gourd Beed is said to he a mixture 
of pne or the other of the two yellow kinds and 
the white gourd seed. At the same time, by 
years of careful selection, a fixed characteristic 
THiv lie given to a mixed variety at which it 
will remain with but. little variation. I believe 
that what is here stated is iu the main correct. 
In the spring of 1875. I purchased iu Now 
York city, one-half bushel of a corn called the 
Mammoth White Dent, which I planted about 
the 15th of May. In this climate (it must be 
understood that 1 live in southwest Virginia, 
the climate of which is not greatly different 
from that of Maryland or Pennsylvania) corn 
is generally planted between the 20th of April 
and the 30th of May following, unless the va¬ 
riety he the. pure white flint, called here Rare¬ 
ripe, which may be planted as late as the 
middle of Juue. As a rule, the pure white 
flint is not planted except by some few for 
bread, nor do we plant, the pare white gourd 
seed, but all shades of varieties between tbe 
two mentioned. I planted the white Dent, 
which must have originated in some Southern 
or Western State, as before stated ; and on Lho 
15th of October, although it was uot then ma¬ 
ture, cut it in order to avoid frost. It proved 
to bo a rather short-eared variety, with very 
deep grains, a largo cob, carrying from 20 to 
30 rows, and the best cars would easily shell 
out a pint of eorn, though U would not weigh 
nearly so well as a flinty corn. From the half 
bushel planted, T saved only a bushel which I 
thought would germinate. This I mixed with 
the same quantity of a corn raised from seed 
received of the Department of Agriculture, 
called Runner’s White, a very white, floury 
corn, with long ears of l<» to 18 rows. A large 
proportion of this mixture still failed to ma¬ 
ture as it ought, aud accordingly the year fol¬ 
lowing, I put in with it some of the kinds usual¬ 
ly planted here, which had the general effect of 
rendering the ears more plenty, and of render¬ 
ing the size of them from 12 to 14 rows. I can 
now go to iny crib and pick out ears repre¬ 
senting as many as 20 different sub-varieties, 
varying in characteristics all the way from 
pure flint to pure gourd seed. The same Is the 
case to a greater or less extent with the cribs 
of a majority of farmers in the country, aseven 
where a single pure variety is planted it is 
difficult to keep it so, from the ease with which 
different kinds intermix. The question then 
arises, whether it is better to plant mixtures of 
the sort above described, a pure original va¬ 
riety, or a mixed variety with a fixed charac¬ 
teristic. For rny own part I have no informa¬ 
tion on this point. 
To show how difficult it is to fix the character 
of atiy mixed variety of corn, I will state tny 
own experience. Last 9priug I selected from 
my crib one car each of two kiuds—one a 12- 
rowed corn, with grains rather deep but hard, 
broad, fluted between the rows, and easily shel¬ 
ling out one pint of grains; the other, au 18- 
rowed corn, with deep, uarrow indented grains 
carried ou t smallest cob I ever saw, with the 
464 
rows perfectly straight and the smallest possi¬ 
ble space lost between them. I planted those 
two ears in such a manner that I was pretty 
certain that they could not intermix with each 
other, aud so that the prevailing winds would 
uot blow the pollen from neighboring craps 
among them. VV hen I gathered the product, I 
found of the first kind uot a single ear like the 
oue I plauted, aud only two or three approach¬ 
ing it; and of the second. I found 20 or more 
ears like one another, but not one like the 
original ear. I couclude from this that a fixed 
character could not be given to a mixed corn 
in less time than ten years, aud not thou unless 
unusual care should be continually taken to 
make the selections very nearly approach the 
given standard. I should, perhaps, explain 
that, by a mixed variety is meant not one that 
has different kinds of grains on the same ear, 
but one that lias resulted from the intermixture 
of some of the five original corns. Iu one of 
your city contemporaries of last year, the 
question was raised whether more corn to the 
acre could bo raised by planting tbe small flint 
corn as at the North or the large dent as at 
the South, this, of course, in a climate where 
either would mature equally well, as they 
would here for instauce. I would remark in 
passing, that it is the practice here to sow the 
ground in wheat after the corn has been cut 
off, and for this reason it is in some respects 
preferable to plant a corn which will ripen not 
later than the 1st of October. Allowing 
that the small corn will produce two ears to 
the stalk—and many of the small sorts will do 
this—aud that each ear shells out one gill; and 
that the large coru will produce one ear to the 
stalk, which ou the average will shell out one- 
half pint, then the yield of each will be pre¬ 
cisely the same; and this, I think, is about the 
truth of the matter. But. if the small kind lias 
only one ear to the stalk, then the yield of the 
large would be much greater. 
We may now make a calculation of how much 
corn it is possible to raise to the acre, and see 
how much is actually raised. When the ground 
to be planted is cheeked three feet each way, 
as, I believe, is generally the course pursued 
by farmers, and two stalks left in each bill, 
there will be 9,680 plants to the acre; and if 
we suppose that every two plants yield oue 
piut, the yield per acre will be 75 bushels. Now 
I can pick from my crib 64 ears which will 
shell out a bushel, or one pint to the ear. If, 
then, we suppose that every plant yields oue 
piut, with the ground laid off as before, the 
yield will bo double, or 150 bushels per acre. 
Thus, under the most perfect conditions, it is 
always possible to raise 150 bushels to the acre : 
but then these perfect conditions are rarely if 
over obtained. Such a result as the above is 
frequently obtained ou small plots of ground 
or on fractions of au acre, sometimes on one or 
two acres, but it is uot at all probable ou a 
large field. As a matter of fact, I have averaged 
70 bushels on eight acres. A man may select 
ears which will shell out one piut to the ear, 
hut he cannot do this by takiug the ears in the 
order they grow in the field, for there is always 
a large proportion of nubbins, and many plants 
fail to ear at all. These nubbins come either 
from replants or from the thin parts of the field. 
A staud of corn is never so good but that there 
is more or less replautiug to be done, and not 
unfrequently the replants constitute a very fair 
share of the field. Replants do uot usually ear 
well, not because, as is frequently supposed, 
there is not time for them to mature, but be¬ 
cause they are shaded by the earlier and larger 
plants, which cut off the sunshine and the air 
from them and cause them to grow as they 
would uudor the shade of a tree. Making all 
necessary allowances. 50 bushels per acre cm 
good land ought ul present be considered a 
good yield. 
How far apart the plants staud, and whether 
they should be checked or drilled, is a question 
which depends for its answer on the variety to 
be plauted and the character of the soil. The 
small kinds, may, of course, be planted much 
closer than the large. 
It must always be borne iu mind that air is 
as necessary to the existence of eorn as to that 
of the human being. Want of air has pretty 
much the same effect ou a crowded field of this 
crop as it has on a great number of people 
closely collected in a small house on a hot day 
iu summer. 
Plants that grow 12 to 14 feet high should 
stand uot less than four feet apart each way, as 
then they can get air iu four directions. Corn 
which has been checked has the advantage 
that it can bo worked with less hand labor, es¬ 
pecially when the land is very foul with weeds. 
Iu very sandy soils, it is absolutely essential 
that the ground be marked off both ways, as 
otherwise the plants will burn up, or “ five,” as 
it is called. It is meant by this that when the 
corn is about to shoot, the blades will turn yel¬ 
low from the ground to above the ear. the 
stalk becomes hard, and the ear fail to fill. 
Drilling may be practiced with advantage in 
clay soils. A plan sometimes pursued here it 
to lay off the rows three feet apart, and plain 
every 12 inches in the row, thiuning to oue 
stalk. This gives nearly five thousand more 
plauts to the acre than where the rows are 
