Vol. LXX. No. 4128. 
NEW YORK, 
DECEMBER 
ft 
9, 1911. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE RECORD CROP OF SILAGE CORN. 
Over 68 Tons Per Acre. 
[The Ross Bros. Co. offered a prize of $50 for the 
heaviest yield of silage corn grown on one acre—Eureka 
corn to be planted. They informed us that this prize was 
finally awarded to Mrs. H. Will Harris of Lenawee 
Co., Mich., who, they clam, grew 70 tons and S00 
on one measured acre. We asked Mrs. Harris, who is a 
subscriber of Thh R. N.-Y., to tell us the story of this 
great corn crop, and this is her report.] 
We planted two-thirds bushel of ear corn on three 
acres of land. One acre is a fine clay loam and was 
used only for pasture the year before. After this 
land had been carefully prepared we drilled into it 
with a grain drill 350 pounds of phosphate. We set 
the drill for 200 pounds to acre, and went over it 
one way; then we set the drill for 150 pounds to 
acre and went the other way over the land. This 
acre yielded something more than 50 tons of fodder 
and ripe corn. There is something more than 100 
bushels of ripe ears of corn. The other two acres 
are gravelly loam, which had been thickly covered 
with rich manure from the cow stable during the 
Winter. One acre of this piece, the one on which 
we won the prize, had been, part of it, an old hen- 
yard, and the rest an old hogyard. This land was 
carefully prepared and some phosphate hoed into 
the ground after the corn was up, the hoeing on both 
pieces always being just thoroughly stirring the top 
of the soil, not deep enough to disturb the rootlets. 
The corn was planted with a two-horse planter, set 
to sow seven inches apart in the row. The clay loam 
was planted May 15, the other two acres May 30. It 
was carefully cultivated, and, as said above, hoed. 
After the corn was as high as a man's head the foliage 
was so dense there was no chance for weeds to grow, 
neither could it be hoed or cultivated. We needed 
feed through the long dry time of last Summer. We 
began to feed off the two acres about the 25th of 
July, and kept five cows, four horses, a number of 
hogs, geese, etc., ever since. We have filled a small 
silo, 45 tons, and are still feeding from corn raised 
on these two acres. Everything eats it as they do 
sweet .corn. The stalks are large but tender, and 
there was little waste when fed green from the field. 
T think that we can 
keep our seven head of 
cattle and four horses 
on these two acres 
and have feed left. 
Of course, I am only 
trying to learn and do 
not consider myself 
much of a judge, but 
farmers say we could 
keep twice the number. 
We have 2 7y 2 acres and 
much is used for mar¬ 
ket gardening and rais¬ 
ing flowers for florists, 
and seeds, but we are 
planning to keep 10 
cows, young cattle, our 
four horses, and with a 
few patches of Alfalfa 
and Eureka silage corn 
to raise all our rough- 
age. Farmers who have 
silos are watching this 
corn closely, and they 
all think it is wonder¬ 
ful. MRS. H. WILL HARRIS. 
Michigan. 
R. N.-Y.—We know 
there is soil around 
Adrian, Mich., that is suited for such crops, and 
about as rich as any to be found in this country- 
Add to this naturally strong soil the fertility 
that would accumulate in a henyard and hogyard and 
we see that the corn had a great start. The pictures 
show two views of the crop. The stalks certainly 
grew like young trees. The city surveyor of Adrian 
measured the acre and also measured out four sep- 
A SHOCK OF THE CORN. Fig. 476. 
arate square rods. The corn on these four rods was 
cut and hauled to Adrian and weighed by the city 
surveyor. The four lots weighed 3,500 pounds, 
Mrs. Harris willingly gives all the details, and so 
far as we can learn this record is authentic. Of 
course, under 1 the circumstances no one could expect 
to have every load from the acre weighed. 
LIME, ACID SOILS AND ACID PHOSPHATE. 
Another View of the Matter. 
On page 1089 W. H. Bowker discusses these sub¬ 
jects in an interesting manner.' I believe a further 
discussion of them may prove helpful. First, consid¬ 
ering which form of lime is to be preferred, caustic 
(quicklime) or carbonate of lime (supplied generally 
from marl, fine ground oyster shells or fine ground 
limestone), it seems to me that Mr. Bowker, who 
apparently advocates the use of quick or caustic lime, 
and your contributor, Mr. J. M. C. Johnston, who 
seems to favor carbonate of lime, are both right, and, 
in a degree, both wrong. While this may seem a 
paradox, the explanation is simple. For heavy soils, 
rich in decayed (or decaying) organic matter, where 
quick results are necessary to correct the acid soil 
conditions, quicklime is indicated. If it is desired to 
extend the effect of the liming over a long period on 
such a soil, both quicklime and carbonate of lime 
may be used, half a ton of quicklime and two tons or 
upwards of carbonate of lime being recommended. 
On the other hand, where soils are light and contain 
relatively little decayed organic matter, the use of 
caustic lime may do harm. Mr. Johnston might find 
confirmation of his views in the following by Prof. 
James Hendrick, the eminent Scottish authority: 
From an agricultural point of view, it is the lime which 
is available as a base, and not merely the free or caustic 
lime, which is important. Lime which is so loosely com¬ 
bined as to be capable of neutralizing acidity and of act¬ 
ing as a base during nitrification, is what is desired in 
the soil. Free alkali is not desired in the soil, but lime 
in the form of carbonate, in which it is not free and does 
not render the soil strongly alkaline, yet is available to 
neutralize acidity in the soil, is what is required. (Jour¬ 
nal of the Society of Chemical Industry.) 
Again we find, in Farmers’ Bulletin No. 77, on 
“The Liming of Soils,” issued by the United States 
Department of Agriculture, the following: 
Excessive amounts of lime, especially on light soils, 
may have an injurious action. This is particularly true 
of freshly slaked lime and of ground limestone upon light 
sandy soils which are inclined to be dry and which con¬ 
tain only small amounts of organic matter. It hastens 
unduly the decomposition of organic matter, and this 
renders the soil more open and less retentive of fertilizers 
and moisture than before. 
Thus it appears that 
the kind or form of 
lime to be used de¬ 
pends entirely upon 
the particular condi¬ 
tions existing on the 
farm where it is to be 
employed, and is a mat¬ 
ter concerning which 
each individual farmer 
should use his best care 
and best judgment. 
ACID PHOSPHATE. 
—It is entirely true, as 
Mr. Bowker points out, 
that the acidity of acid 
phosphate is not due to 
the presence of any free 
sulphuric acid. The sul¬ 
phuric acid is combined 
or locked up with the 
lime in the form of sul¬ 
phate of lime or gypsum, 
a very stable compound. 
The fact remains, how¬ 
ever, that acid phos¬ 
phate is an extremely 
acid material, this acid¬ 
ity being due to the 
presence of a consider- 
A VIEW OF THAT 68-TON CORN ACRE. Fin. 477. 
