Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-04-07

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i INDIAN CoRN.-At the annual
meeting Of the Vermont State Agri.
cultural Society, at Middlcbury in
January last, Judge Colburn, OF
Springfield in this state, ono of the
officers Of the society, and one Of the
best farmers in Vermont, was sue
cessful competitor for premium 90
Indian corn. We think his state
ment 10 the Society, very valaa-
BILE one, and publish it for the benefit
of all who would raise good crop
Of good corn, the coming season. =
1t was substantially as follows -
The soil of this field is alluyio,
and was broken up to the depth o { g
inches, after coating of manure oi
40 loads To each acre, spread broad
cast, had been applied IN the spring
of 1852. The pillow used was the
! Eagle g., turning a fiat furrow, and
performing ITS work admirably and
| here permit me TO digress a moment
from the subject, while 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 aud thorough
ness of their work, that are so accur-
ately and well adapted to an improv-
ed cultivation, rs the various kinds of
the deep iiIIers of the Eagle Class,
manufactured by Ruggles, Noursc 81
Mason.
This field was planted with corn
Witch soon came up, and the pros
poets for good crop were hatIering;
but as often happens on sward land,
the copper head grub or cut worm,
made ns appearance, and destroyed
most OF the first, and considerable
portion OF the 2d planting. | how
ever harvested about so bushels of
aa-.. a. 49, -~--, aud "a urge qudnu-
ty of pumpkins.
Being DESTROYS to obtain an extra
crop Of corn from this field before
seeding TO grass, in the spring Of
1853, applied, broadcast, 80 OK
cart loads of manure to each acre,
making 80 loads to each acre, in the
two years. The loads were large,
side boards upon the cart body, and
would contain 30 bushels potato
measure. The manure was in DIFF
ferent stages of decomposition
part of il WAS from hog yard, fine
and rotten, some of it compost
heap, made up of horse and chip
manure, leachcd ashes, rich loan
from We bitches on road des, bro
ken bones, the scrapings of the poul-
try house, nc, often shoveIed over
during the summer season, kept
dIshlng upon The tops, on which: were
daily thrown all the enriching wash
from the kitchen and chambers OF the
dwelling. Tina, portion from hog
yard, was made up of turfs from
road sides, rich loan from under
stable floors. decaying leaves from
the forests, brakes from the pasture,
green weeds and thisiles, pol.to
vines, the cobs OF 500 bushels corn,
and all other refuse matter that came
TO hand. There were l53 loads Of
strong manure from these two sour
ces, and after paying for all the labor
of putting in material and working 1t
over, the actual value of il when TAX
en- out aud applied TO the soil. left
large balance towards delraylng the
expense of raising and iaitening the
swine that helped to make and work
it over. would here remark tina!
have no swamp or muck bed upon
my farm; have no such mine of
wealth 10 resort 10, 10 swell the ma
nure heaps and enrich my lands If
had, | believe | should know how
to appreciate aud use il, but such
means as | have at command, ! en-
deayor TO make the most of.
The balance of the manure applied
to this fieldof : -2acres wa nude in,
&'aken out fcattle and sheep-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 take up
and absorb the urine, and the coarse
part of corn fodder add very much
10 yard manure. This portion was
rather coarse, aud was applied in lis
green state, which necessarily re-
quired the labor Of one man when
the pillow was running, to brush IL
into the funow, that no obstruction
to a thorough blowing should exist.
II was plowed 10 inches deep, A
inches under the decayed sward,
with short mould-board plow,
breaking and pnlverzIng the soil and
mixing the manure with it, which
with a thorough after narrowing, lett
one Of the best prepared fields for In
dian Corn tina, could possibly be OBJ
tanned.
The planting took place on the
10Th Of May, with The corn planter,
dropping plaster and ashes with the
seed, about 6 bushels TO the acre,
the rows north aud sou.h, 4 fee, dis