(- 
Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New-Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
VoL. LXXVI. YORK, MAY 19, 1917. 
Hilled or Drilled Corn 
A Se* of Cost Figures 
TVE ACRES OF l,EA?triX(:. —Last Fall some 
one started a discussimi of the host -way to jjroW 
—jji liills or drills. I would like to submit my 
figures herewith. The fi.gures given are actual, not 
approximate. T have made no allowance for the 
rental of the land as this varies so much in differ¬ 
ent localities that it would he of no value in this 
article. The corn Avas not weighed, as Ave laid no 
means for doing so, tln^ Aveight being (hdermimal by 
the height to AA'hich the. silo was filled. With onr 
corn in drills Ave filled a 100-ton silo from th'e acres, 
il’lie variety of corn used Avas T.eaming. We ns\i- 
ally plan to fill the silo at the denting period. The 
season Avas A'ery AA'et so that the Aveeds had a good 
start before Ave could .get on the ground Avith the 
cultivator. This Avas in 1911. We laid to laand- 
hoe the crop three times at so great an expense that 
in 1912 we put in hills, live acre.s of the same va¬ 
riety Avhich yielded us hut :(i»proximately 80 toias. 
1911 
19M 
19i:i 
191:5 
Cost r> aeros 
CV,st 0 acres 
(IrilliMl vickl 
('ost 
lulled yield 
Cost 
100 toii.s 
ppr acre 
UX» tons 
per acre 
Plowing . 
.. .82;’,.10 
.04.02 
027.12 
,$4.52 
-Manuring . 
.. :’,2..50 
0..M> 
;59.1S 
(5.5:5 
IlarroAving .... 
.. ]2.sri 
-.r>T 
1.5.:50 
2.5(5 
Fertilizer . 
.. Gl.rio 
12.20 
7:5.50 
12.25 
Seed . 
4.S0 
.90 
4.SO 
.80 
Marking . 
\ 
• ».••• 
1.80 
.*50 
IManting . 
o.*-’.". 
1.2.-') 
7.50 
1.25 
Cultivating .... 
.. 18.00 
;j.oo 
42.(50 
7.10 
Ibii'se Hoiung . 
.. 17.8.1 
;!..'>7 
42.42 
7.07 
Hand Hoeing .. 
.. C7.r)0 
1:5.50 
.... 
Cutting . 
4.00 
.80 
5.40 
.00 
I'wine . 
1.7S 
.29 2-:5 
Filling Silo .. . 
.. 40.00 
8.00 
43.20 
7.20 
0280.00 
$57.9S 
0:104.00 
.850.77 2-3 
Thus in 191.1 Ave put in six acre.s, hilled, Avhich Avith 
lair fertilization yielded us a full silo of 100 tons. 
8o in order to get 100 tons of silage we had to 
plant six acres of lulled corn as against fiA'e acres 
of di-illed corn, or to piit it in other Avords hill cul¬ 
ture Avill reduce the yi(dd o1)taliu‘d by drill cul- 
» 
ture over 20%. 
THE IN\'E8TMENT.— Noav as to the difference 
in cost per lt*0 tons of silage, examine the precvd- 
ing table: 
A COIIRARISON OF COST.— Fi-om this table Ave 
see that it costs .i: 141.70 more to grow 100 tons of 
silage by the hill jnethod. or 14.7 cents per ton. 
.rudging by the quality and maturity of the corn I 
should .say that it Avas worth that 14.7 cents per 
ton extra. The horse hoeing and cultivating cost 
])racticall.A' double for the hilled corn Avhat it did in 
the drilled, on account of cultiA'ating both Avays. 
I’here Avas no hand-hoeing done on the check-rowed 
corn, and if I am any .judge I should say it wnis as 
clean of Aveeds as the drilled corn after hoeing by 
hand three time.s. If .A'ou intend to check-row your 
corn he sure to have the piece as ne.ar scpiare as 
possible as this Avill saA'e much time in cultivation. 
If you drill your corn, the longer and narrower the 
piece, the more economically it can be cultivated. 
ADVAXTAHE OF HILLING.— Now while I have 
shown the hill system to be more expensiA-e than 
the di-ill method, still, since using the hill system. 
I luiA'e continued its u.se to date. Naturally you 
ask Avhy, as it seems that most men Avould folloAV 
the dictates of economy. Well, it is just this Ava.v. 
Ry hilling our corn we are able to take entin* care 
of it with our oAvn team, Avhile if Ave drilled it Ave 
Avould liaA’e to hire lul]) and i»ay out actual cash to 
luiA'e it haiid-hoed. As it is, Ave have the team, and 
it must be boarded. Why not plan our Avork so that 
horses can do it, and Ave can keep the money that 
Avould have been paid out for hired help as a part of 
our labor income? For .some this avouUI he no ob¬ 
ject, hut for us it is next to impossible to get the 
help Avhen Avanted at anything like a reasonable 
lignre. so Ave can better afford to i)rep!'.re and care 
for more ground in a manner in Avhich Ave can do thp 
AA’ork our.sidA'cs than aa'o can to take our chances* on 
hiring help to can' for the croj) Avhen needed. 
SAVING HIRED LABOR. —4'ho iieanu* the far¬ 
mer comes to freeing him.self from the nec('ssity of 
hiring the kiiul of labor that is available, the near¬ 
er ho is going to he to ridding himself of a .source 
of endless Avorr.v and trouble. The better chuss of 
men, the kind one Avould like to hire, have gone into 
the .shops Avhere the Avages i)aid are much better 
than the farmer could eA-er pay. Machinery is 
gradually displ.-icing hand labor on the farm as 
elsoAvliere. la-v f. wickes. 
Connecticut. 
Baled Hay and Weeds 
IIT.STLE HAY.—Recently the Avriter Avas asked 
to identify a Aveed plant found in a bale of 
No. 1 mixed hay shipped from Noav York to Ncav 
J ersey and sold by a Noav Jersey dealer to a local 
farmer. The plant in question proved to be Canad.i 
thistle, and one that has caused no little trouble 
and loss to farmers of both Spites mentioned. Nat- 
urall.A*. the farmer Avho di.scovered this enemy en¬ 
deavoring to .gain entrance to his farm in this man¬ 
ner AA'as much disturhial and helleve.s, Avith many 
otlnu’s, that siu h a condition should not be alloAved 
to exist. 
ONE CHANNEL OF WEED DISSEMINATION. 
—No one Avho writes or thinks on the question of 
weed dis.semination fails to consider ha.v as a car¬ 
rier of weed seeds. Recognizing this f.-ict, some 
States luiA-e taken le.gi.slative action to limit the 
flow of noxious Aveed .seeds through th.is channel. 
The results, lioAA’ever. have been much less effective 
than in similar action a.gainst Aveed seeds in feeds 
and agricultural seeds. Possibly if some one were 
to make an extensive study of the Aveed seed con¬ 
tent of loose and baled hay entering into interstate 
traffic, the results might indicate the necessity of 
some federal action to the end that such Aveed con¬ 
taminated hay Avould be prohibited from interstate 
A Case of Farm Cooperation Between Man and Sheep and Dog. Fig. 269 
