The Smoky Hill and Republican union. [volume] (Junction City, Kan.) 1861-1864, 1862-06-05
PREMIUM CORN CROP IN INDIANA FOR 1853
IMPORTANCE OF SUB SOIL FLOWING.

We had just finished writing an arti.
Gle on the importance Of &c Trench and
Sub-soil Flowing which appears in
the present number Of the Farmer,
when we saw in an Ohio paper an
account Of the extraordinary crop of
corn which took the first premium offer
ed by. the State Agricultural Society of
Indiana. The mode Of preparing the
land, and the subsequent cultivation rs
so nearly what We have recommended as
the best Of all others, and the result is
so encouraging, that we give the sub
stance Of the article as furnished by a
correspondent.
The corn was grown in Switzerland
county, Indiana, near Nevay, by ). W.
Wright. AS further proof of the cor
rectness of this method Of preparation
and culture, We will state that Mr..
Wright took the first premium also for
1858. The crop in 1889, for which the
present premium was given, five acres
Of which averaged 1871. bushels and -
lbs. per acre, and ten acres averaged
ia bushels per acre; the best acre out
of the FIVE produced the astonishing
quantity Of 214 bushels. This farm is
situated on the Ohio river; part of it is
bottom land and overhows. Some of
this land has been in corn sixty years in
succession. The past year he raised "a
bushels Of wheat per acre from some of
the land, it being the first crop of wheat
ever taken from it. But the method of
cultivating the corn is the point to
which we wish to call particular atten-
ton. 1t is as follows:
He sub-soil plows his land once in
three years, with the best plows made
for that purpose, drawn by a famous
team of oxen that shows that they are
fed on premium corn, and by an owner
who knows how to raise premium crops
and keep good cattle. The oxen wei gh
$500 pounds, and follow directly after
the common pillow, breaking up from
fifteen to eighteen inches deep.
After the corn is gathered in the
autumn he does not allow. his fields to
be trampled by any kind of stock. At
convenient times he rolls the stalks
down fat, lengthwise the rows, and
plows them under in February, if the
weather is favorable. At corn planting
time he harrows his ground without any
further blowing, plants his corn with
the Cherokee Corn Planter, the rows
being three feet three inches apart, with
three grains in hill.
He cultiyates his corn one way with
a double shovel pillow, the shovels being
about four inches wide, blowing from
secen to eight inches deep the first
time, and as near the corn as possible.
The second blowing is about four inches
deep, and the third and last, two inches,
learning the ground as Iccel as possi-
bic, and taking special care not to co.,
err the brace roots, which are very
essential to the healthy growth Of the
crop. These brace roots throw out an
infinite number Of fibrous rcots-the
feeding apparatus Of the corn plant. A
few years ago Mr.. Wright purchased a
farm near him, which had been so badly
managed, that the occupants could not
raise more than ffteen,er twenty bush
els of corn to the acre. The first year
after the purchase he sub-soil plowed it
and planted it in corn. The result was
81 bushels per acre and in 1858, after
the second sub-soiling, four years after
it came into his possession, he raised
the premium crop Of over $50 bushels to
the acre.
Here are accounts of repeated crops
from the same land, and all BY the same