118 
THE CULTIVATOR 
April, 
The Culture of Indian Corn, 
AND THE WAY TO MAKE MANURE FOR IT. 
Our correspondent, Hon. J. W. Colburne, of Spring- 
field, (Yt.) received the prizes of his State and County 
Ag. Societies for the best field of Indian Com, the last 
year. The field contained seven and a half acres, and 
the product averaged one hundred and Jive bushels 
(56 lbs. to the bushel) per acre. The cobs weighed 12 
lbs. per bushel. Mr. C. has sent us the statement which 
he furnished the Societies, of the manner in which this 
crop was grown. It is particularly interesting, show¬ 
ing as it does, how he made sufficient manure to enable 
him to apply it in such abundance to this field. We 
know that it will be doubted by some whether he acted 
wisely in manuring so heavily; but if all our farmers 
will follow his example in the measures he took to in¬ 
crease the amount of his manure, they will have little 
occasion to send abroad for artificial fertilizers. Mr. 
Colburne says - 
The soil of this field is alluvion, and was broken up 
to the depth of 6 inches, after a coating of manure of 
40 loads to each acre, spread broadcast, had been appli¬ 
ed in the spring of 1852. The plow used was the Eagle 
C., turning a flat furrow, and performing its work ad¬ 
mirably ; and here premit me to digress a moment from 
the subject, while I say, (and I speak from my own 
experience,) that in my judgment, there are no plows in 
existence, taking into account the ease of draft, the depth 
and thoroughness of their work, that are so accurately 
and well adapted to an improved cultivation, as the 
various kinds of the deep tillers of the Eagle Class, 
manufactured by Ruggles, Nourse & Mason. 
This field was planted with corn which soon came up, 
and the prospects for a good crop were flattering; but 
as often happens on sward land, the copper head grub or 
cut worm, made its appearance, and destroyed most of 
the first, and considerable portion of the 2d planting. 
I however, harvestsd about 50 bushels of corn to the 
acre, and a large quantity of pumpkins. 
Being desirous to obtain an extra crop of corn from 
this field before seeding to grass, in the spring of 1853, 
I applied, broadcast, 50 ox-cart loads of manure to each 
acre, making 90 loads to each acre, in the two years. 
The loads were large, side boards upon the cart body, 
and would contain 35 bushels potato measure. The 
manure was in different stages of decomposition; a part 
of it was from hog yard, fine and rotten, some of it a 
compost heap, made up of horse and chip manure, leaeh- 
ed ashes, rich loam from the ditches on road sides, brok¬ 
en bones, the scrapings of the poultry house, &c., often 
shoveled over during the summer season, kept dishing 
upon the tops, on which were daily thrown all the en¬ 
riching wash from the kitchen and chambers of the 
dwelling. That portion from hog yard, was made up 
of turfs from road sides, rich loam, from under stable 
floors, decaying leaves from the forests, brakes from 
the pasture, green weeds and thistles, potato vines, the 
cobs of 800 bushels coirn, and all other refuse matter 
that came to hand.—There were 183 loads of strong 
manure from these two sources, and after paying for all 
the labor of putting in material and working it over, 
the actual value of it when taken out and applied to 
the soil, left a large balance towards defraying the ex- 
• pense of raising and fattening the swine that helped to 
make and work it over, I would here remark that I 
have no swamp or muck bed upon my farm; I have no 
such mine of wealth to resort to, to swell the manure 
heaps and enrich my lands; if I had, I believe I should 
know how to appreciate and use it, but such means as I 
have at command, I endevor to make the most of. 
The balance of the manure applied to this field of 
7 1-2 acres, was made in, and taken out of cattle and 
sheeo yards, without adding any material except refuse 
straw which was used freely enough to keep the yards 
warm and dry, and to absorb the liquid portion of the 
droppings, horse and cattle stables kept bedded so as to 
fake up and absorb the urine, and the coarse part of 
corn fodder adds very much to yard manure. This por¬ 
tion was rather coarse, and was applied in its green 
state, which necessarily required the labor of one man 
when the plow was running, to brush it into the furrow, 
that no obstruction to a thorough plowing should exist. 
It was plowed 10 inches deep, 4 inches under the decay¬ 
ed sward, with a short mould-board plow, breaking and 
pulverising the soil and mixing the manure with it, 
which with a thorough after harrowing, left one of the 
best prepared fields for Indian Corn, that could possibly 
be obtained. 
The planting took place on the 16th of May, with 
the corn planter, dropping plaster and ashes jyith the 
seed, about 6 bushels to the acre, the rows north and 
south, 4 feet distance, and hills 2 feet. At the first 
hoeing the stalks we designed to be reduced to 3 in each 
hill, but in many hills 4 were left. A mixture of ashes 
and plaster, a single handful to each hill, was then ap¬ 
plied, and after the second hoeing, plaster alone, a 
table spoonful to each hill; the 3d hoeing soon follow¬ 
ed, all done with care and neatness, using the cultiva¬ 
tor and elevating the earth but slightly around the 
hills. 
The manuring of the year previous, together with 
the decayed sward, seemed to bring the young corn 
forward with astonishing rapidity in its earlier stages, 
and the last manuring with the deep plowing and tho¬ 
rough culture told with powerful effect in maturing the 
crop. 
It was cut up at the bottom in Sept., as the husks 
began to assume a dry appearauee, each man taking 3 
rows and setting around every third .hill of the center 
row, which was left standing to support the shook, a 
man following with rye-straw, putting a strong band 
around the shook above the ears; after standing three 
weeks the husking commenced and was finished on the 
19th of October; making no assortment, as it was all 
dry and sound. 
The sample shown you is no better than the whole 
will average. It is a mixture of the 8 and 12 row r ed 
varieties, with a small cob and deep flat kernel; and is 
now grown 8, 10 and 12 rows of kernels upon the cobs, 
which weigh only 12 lbs. after shelling off 56 lbs. of the 
kernel. By this method of harvesting it will be seen 
that the shuck or fodder is not separated; it is set up in 
shooks of convenient size to be put on to a cart with 
a hay fork, or it can be husked in the field if the weath¬ 
er is good and the fodder drawn in afterwards. It cures 
well and is worth more for winter forage than by any 
other process I have ever tried. 
In conclusion, gentlemen, permit me to say, that in 
my experience of growing this crop for the last 25 years, 
I cannot resist the conviction that with our soil and cli¬ 
mate and tfete best'of preparation and cultivation, not 
much over 100 bushels to the acre can possibly be ob¬ 
tained. There is no better soil for the production of 
this valuable grain than the alluvial bottom lands bor¬ 
dering ubon the Connecticut River, and yet when I 
have done my best on these lands, I have oftener fallen 
short that gone over 100 bushels to the acre. This is a 
great yield and requires extraordinary effort, with a 
very favorable season to obtain it. Whenever I see the 
enormous yield of 130 to 150 bushels to the acre, I can¬ 
not but entertain the opinion, that some inaccuracy in 
the measurement has been made, though perhaps not 
designedly. I know these remarks are gratuitous and 
may be deemed impertinent, but they are not designed 
to particularize or to personalise; they only allude in 
general terms, to what is thought to be erroneous. J. 
W. Colburne. Springfield , Dec. 31, 1853. 
Large Crop of Onions. —The statement is going 
the rounds that a Mr. Hammond, of Grand Rapids, 
Mich., raised, the last season, on one rod of ground, 13£ 
bushels of onions. This is at the rate of 2,160 bushels 
per acre. 
