Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-16

D0iotADiC anu nubtbiNC 1OOO lOI
cattle, horses, and even sheep. Farmer
and dYtiS0n.
Cultivation of COrm-glOw TO Secure
aLarge Yield.
At a late meeting of the st. Louis
Farmers Club, a communication was
read from Mr.. G. c. Wood, of South
Pass, ILL.,, on the subject of seed corn,
wherein he gave detailed statements of
his experience in raising corn. He
writes:
In 1860 l planted some corn in Hill
county, Texas, that | had selected with
my own hands in the field in .Wapello
county, Iowa, the fall before. My ex-
pectalion was better return from it than
from Texas seed; but TO my surprise, it
tasseled out at from one and, a half to
three feet above the ground, and did not
produce nubbin even; while my Texas
seed, planted in the same field, next row
TO it, and at the same hour, produced
good corn.
Now for the reverse. In 1866 l planted
here in Union county, ILL.,, some seed corn
that brought from Mexico. The growth
of stalk and ear at the time it stood in the
field attracted the attention of all who had
occasion TO psss by it. 1t was fully over
a third larger than that grown from seed
procured of one of my neighbors. plant
no other than that of the Mexican seed
now. One of my neIghbors, who had
noticed the corn ia my crib, procured
seed for the first time last spring QS69.)
He told me few days since that the yield
from that seed was at least one-quarter
more than that from other seed.
Mr. Wood inclines to the belief that our
farmers can ado One-fourth to their corn
crop by procuring the seed from the ex-
IRENE South. He sent TO the club four
pounds of seed which he asked might be
distributed, and received the thanks of the
club therefor.
Mr.. Sigerson, of St. Louis, handed in a
paper on corn, in which he took the
ground that two hundred bushels per acre
should be the average in this section, if
properly cultivated. He advocated break
ing up clover sod two years old, blowing
twenty inches deep, and the application
VI uOb lCoS lildu OllC Ol
lime to the acre. The ground should be
broken in the fall as the frosts of winter
would kill the insects.
On the cultivation of corn, Mr.. Munt-
feldt remarked Much the best time to
cultivate corn is before it is up; good
harrow is very efficient tool for this
purpose; it viii thoroughly pulverize and
level the land, and prepare it for the cul
tivator which is to follow. OF course it
must be used as soon as the planting is
finished. The harrow should be run
parallel with the rows, then 1t will not
displace a single hill. On light lands, in
good order, the roller should follow the
harrow. If this work has been well done
the after cultivation is ''but fun" 1t is
folly to say, plowed my corn three or
four times. The question is, is the land
free from weeds and thoroughly mellow
To produce this state of things, the i'm
plements should be run as near as possible
to the plants in the first stages of their
growth, but at the last blowing we must
keep further off, because the plants will
not then bear the laceration of its roots.
II has been ascertained that in very thrifty
corn fields the small fibrous roots of the
corn will grow five and six feet long, but
in the early life of the plant this root
laceration has the same effect that trans
planting has on shrub or tree, it multi
plies the roots, hence if done late it will
retard the maturing of the crop, and thus
expose it to an untimely frost.
Mr.. j. Chapman, of Pamela county,
Miss, has been experimenting with corn,
and communicates the result to the
Southern Farmer as follows:
My first trial was on three acres of rich
upland in 1867, but was not fortified.
Fine seasons throughout the growing sea-
son; cultivated very deep from the time
of Jointing until the earliest stalks were
nearly in roasting ear, say from u to IL
inches, with small long plows; no turning
plows used. The average plowlng was
once a week until laid by. The product
as measured by competent men was 1929
bushels per acre; about so stalks to the
rod, or II, 500 TO the acre. The corn was
green and luXuriant to the ground.
SECOND EXPERIMENT IN 1868.
Twenty acres of rich bottom land, not
enriched in any way; cultivated as be-
fore, with eight weeks drought. Product,
IS 81 bushels per acre. This took the
premium at Water Valley, Mississippi.
THIRD CROP, 1869.
Twenty-four acres same creek bottom,
not fortified. Dry season. Product 92t
bushels; took the premium again at the
same place.
| send you the following three recipes:
To MAKE TWENTY BUSHELS PER ACRE.
Take twenty acres rich land to the
hand; flush up with turning plow from
one and half to two inches deep, or bed
up as you ike. Plant on the bed or in
water burrows, and cultivate with turning
plows once in three weeks, leaving high
bed the last blowing, and if the season is
good, you may gather twenty bushels to
the acre, which is four hundred bushels to
the hand
TO MAKE 80 BUSHELS PER ACRE.
Take fifteen acres of rich land to the
hand; break up with bull tongue pillow,
three inches deep; check off three feet
each way, and run twice in the furrow the
way you are planting, with long tongue
i'"Ws. Put two grains in hill, cover
with the same pillow, and dress off with a
concave harrow; then continue to pillow
with long slim shovels or bull tongues
once every two weeks until the corn is
full of silk, TO the depth of from three
inches at first, TO six or seven inches at
the close OF the blowing season; keep the
weeds down, and if the season is mOder-
ate, you viii gather fifty bushels per acre,
or seven hundred and fifty per hand.
TO MAKE 100 BUSHELS PER ACRE.