The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-04-05
From the Country Gentleman
CULTURE OF INDIAN CORN,
And tho way to make Manure for it.

BURN. OF springfield, Vt, received tb
prizes Of his State and County Agricul
tural Societies for the best field Of In
dian Corn the last year. The field con
taiued seven and half acres. and tn,
product averaged one huudrcd and fc
5uSbeIS (56 lbs to the bushcO per acre
| The cobs weighed IL lbs. per bushel
Mr.. &. has sent us the statement whicl
he furnished the Societies, of the man
ner III which this crop was grown. 4
is particularly y interesting, showing as il
does how he made sufficient manure tC
enable him to apply it in such abund
ance to this field. We know that it vii
be doubted by some whether he acted
wisely in manuring so heavily; but il
all our farmers will follow his example
in the measures he took to increase the
amount of bis manure, they will bavc
little occasion to send abroad for artif
cial fertilizers. Mr.. Colburn says -
The soil Of this field is alluyon, 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
applied in the spring Of 1852. The
plough used was the Eagle c., turning q
fiat furrow, and performing its work ad
mirably; and here permit me to digress
a moment from the subject, while say
land | speak from my own experieuce,) }
that in my judgment, there are DO ploughs
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 Glass, manufactured by
Rnggles, Noursc 4 Mason.
This field was planted with corn which
soon came up, and the prospects for a
good crop were factoring; but as often
happens on sward land the copper head
grub or cut worm. made its appearance,
aud destroyed most of the first and con.
siderable portion Of the I'd planting. l.
however. harvested about so bushels Of
corn to the acre, aud a large quantity Of
pumpkins.
Being dcsirous to obtain an extra
crop of corn from this field before seed
ing to grass, in the spring Of 1853, ap
piled, broadcast, so ox-cart loads Of ma
nure 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 po-
tato measure The manure was III diff.
fercnt stages of decomposition; part
fit was from the hog yard, fine and rot
ten, some of it a compost heap made up
of horse and chip manure, leachod ashes
rich loan from the bitches Oh road sides
broken bones, the scrapings Of the poul
try house, &c, often shovelled over dur
Ing the summer season, kept dishing up.
on the tops. on which were daily thrown
all the enrichng wash from the kitchen
and chambers of the dwelling. That
portion from the hog yard.was made up Of
turfs from road sides, rich loan from IN
der stable floors dccayiDg leaves from the
forests. brakes from the pasture, green
weeds and thisiles, potato vines, the cobs
of 500 bushels of corn and ali other re-
fuso matter that came to hand. There
were So loads of strong manure from
these two sources, and after paying for all
the labor of putting in material and
working it over, tho actual value of it
when taken out and applied to tho soil,
left large balance towards defrayiug
the expense of raising and fatten the
swine that hel pea to make and work il
over. would here remark that | have
no swamp or muck bed upon my farm;
| have no such mine of wealth to resort
to, to swell the manure heaps and enrich
my lands; if | had. believe I should
know how to appreciate and use it, but
such means as | have at command, en-
deavor to make the most of
The balance of the manure applied to
this field Of 7 acres, was made in, and
taken out of cattle and sheep yards.
without adding any material except re-
fuse straw, which was used freely enough
to keep the yard warm and dry, and to
absorb the liquid portion of the drop
pings, horse and cattle stables kept bed
ded SO as to take up and absorb the
urine, and the coarse part of corn fod-
der adds very much to yard manure
This portion was rather coarse, and was
applied in its green state, which neces-
sarily required the labor of one man
when the plough was running, to brush it
into the furrow, that no obstruction to
thorough ploughing should exist 1t was
ploughed o inches deep, 4 inches under
the decaye6 sward, with short mould
board plow, breaking and pulverlsing the
soil and mixing the manure with it,which,
with a thorough after narrowing, left one
of the best prepared fields for Indian
Corn that could possibly be obtained
The planting took place on the 10th
Of May, with the corn planter, dropping
plaster aud ashes with the seed, about {
bushels to the acre, the rows north and
south, 4 feet distance, and hills 2 feet
At the first hoeing the stalks We design
cd to be reduced to. 8 in each hill, but
IN many hills 4 were left. A mixture
of ashes and plaster, single handful &c
each hill, was then applied, aud after thC
second hoeiug, plaster alone, a tatl'
spoonful to each hill the Sd hoeing soor
/ followed all done with care and neat
ness, using the cultivator and elevatinl
the earth but slightly around the hills
The manuring Of the year previous
together with the decayed sward, seem
ed to bring the young corn forward will
astonishing rapidity in its earlier stages
and the last manuring with the dccI
ploughing and thorough culture told will
powerful effect in maintaining the crop
1t was cut up at the bottom in Sertem
Der, as the husks began to assume dr.!
appearance, each man taking 3 row
and setting around every third hill o
the centre row, which was left standing
to support the shook, man following
with ryo.s!raw, putting strong band a
round the shook above the ears aftc