io« 
T.'I I hC JRURA.L, NEW-YORKER 
January 
CANNING CROPS. 
How Thev are Contracted, Grown, Deliv¬ 
ered—Prices Paid. 
Part I. 
Methods of contracting are about as 
follows: During the Winter or early 
Spring notices are sent out by the fac¬ 
tories to their old growers and others 
whom they think might be interested, 
notifying them that their books are 
open for contracts and requesting them 
to call and sign contracts for the num¬ 
ber of acres of produce they wish to 
grow the following season. Some fac¬ 
tories send men out among the farmers 
instead of sending notices. Some farm¬ 
ers grow produce without a contract, 
taking chances upon selling it, but it is 
better to have a contract and be on the 
safe side. The contracts are usually 
simple in form. They simply state num¬ 
ber of acres to be grown, price to be 
paid, etc. Prices paid of course are de¬ 
livered at the factory or at the car 
where the produce is to be shipped to 
the factory. 
Seed is furnished by the factory. As 
a i ule their seed can be depended upon, 
and their prices are usually reasonable. 
I be factories buy the seed in large lots, 
and sell it to the farmer at about cost 
to them. Pay for seed is taken out 
when the farmer is paid for the prod¬ 
uce. ihe crops grown in this vicinity 
are sweet corn, tomatoes, peas, string 
and Lima beans, raspberries, strawber¬ 
ries, beets, ajiples, pumpkins and 
squashes. Of these the first three a e 
the leading crops. 
SwEtT Corn.— Sweet corn has always 
been more of a sure crop with us than 
any of the other canning crops. Some 
years the seed rots, but once the corn 
gets a start one can figure on a good 
crop if he will only care for it. Ground 
for sweet corn should be plowed deeply 
and well fitted. Of course, if the 
ground has never been plowed deep 
before care must be taken not to turn 
up too much subsoil. It is well to give 
the land a liberal application of stable 
manure or fertilizer, or both. Cow ma¬ 
nure is the best. If one uses only fer¬ 
tilizer it pays to use some good grade 
such as 4-8-7 or 4-8-10. The seed is 
sown with a common grain drill, using 
fertilizer attachment if fertilizer is 
sown. I he corn is drilled in rows about 
42 inches apart. All the holes in the 
grain hopper of the drill except the ones 
to be used are covered with pieces of 
metal furnished with the drill for that 
purpose. The same scheme can be 
worked in fertilizer hopper if one 
wishes, but 1 think it is better to use 
fertilizer all over the ground. Some¬ 
times double cones are used on the 
drills that sow the corn. About 12 
quarts of seed arc sown per acre. After 
the corn is in the ground and before it 
comes up it is a good plan to use a 
smoothing harrow or weeder, going 
lengthwise of the rows, so as not to dis¬ 
turb the corn. As soon as the rows can 
be seen the cultivator should be started, 
using shields to protect the corn. The 
sulky cultivator is the best for cultivat¬ 
ing corn at this stage. The corn should 
be cultivated deep at first and shallow 
when the roots get grown out into the 
row, so that the cultivator will injure 
them if it is run deep. Small teeth are 
used when the corn is small, and thistle- 
hoes and wings when it gets larger. The 
thistle-hoes keep the ’ cultivator from 
running deep into the ground. The corn 
should be cultivated about once a week 
until it silks out, and once after the 
ears have got a little size. I have been 
told that this last cultivation fills out 
the ends of the ears. Whether this is 
so or not I do not know, but I do know 
that this last cultivation does good. It 
is well to throw the dirt up to the corn 
this last tfme, and thus cover up a few 
weeds. As I should have said before, 
the corn should lie hoed once or twice. 
Not all farmers do this, but I know 
that it pays well for the time spent. 
After a little experience the grower 
can usually tell when the corn is ready 
for delivering. By stripping the husks 
from a few average ears and piercing 
the corn with the finger nail he can tell 
something about it. If the milk flies 
just a little the corn is about right. An¬ 
other way is to use some of the corn 
for table purposes. When the corn is 
just right for the table it should be 
right for the factory. Care should be 
taken with such varieties as Crosby, 
not to let it get too hard, as it does 
not show up very plain. An inspector 
from the factory is usually sent around 
when the corn is about ready to deliver. 
The corn is picked by taking hold of 
the ear and giving a quick, downward 
snapping or twisting motion. Differ¬ 
ent kinds of rigs for hauling corn are 
used. A double wagon box with extra 
side and end boards makes quite a good 
rig, but better yet is a tight-bottomed 
hay-rack with side and end boards. This 
is handy in unloading, as one can throw 
a few ears out by hand and shovel the 
remainder of his load. In driving 
through the field with a wagon some¬ 
times a row is picked and cut and some¬ 
times the row is straddled by the team 
and the row picked behind the wagon. 
The varieties of corn mostly grown are 
Evergreen, Croshy and Country Gentle¬ 
man. Price paid for seed is $3 per 
bushel. Price paid for corn is $10 per 
ton for Evergreen, $11 and $12 for 
Crosby and $10 for Country Gentleman. 
Average yield per acre is about 2J4 
tons; five tons have been grown upon 
an acre. lynn g. swanson. 
Chautauqua, Co., N. Y. 
■I, 
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