The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-05-06
and HOTSEHOLD
Premium Corn Crop in Pennsylvania.

The Brandywine Farmers Club of Ches-
ter county, Pa, has awarded to David III.
Bronson, of Guthricville, the premium for
the best four acres of Indian corn, his crop
averaging 1877 bushels and 30 pounds per
acre. The height of the stalks varied from
IL to 16 feet, many measuring seven inches
in circumference. In his statement to the
club, Mr.. Bronson said that last fall and
spring he applied 100 wagon loads of
unleached livery and barn-yard manure,
broadcast, on % acres of clover and timothy
sward, so loads of which were hauled dis
lance of three miles, all furrowed down in
April and the first week in May. On the
land on which the premium crop was grown,
he applied, i'll addition to the stable manure,
on the sod, three OK cart loads of hogpen
manure to the acre. After blowing and
thoroughly pulverizing the soil, he marked
out rows one way 3! feet apart, dropping
the corn by hand, two grains, 10 to IS
inches apart, and applied to each hill a
handful of hen manure, ashes, and plaster,
of equal parts, covering with hoe, May 10th.
On II acres of the % cultivated, 800 bushels
of lime were applied and cultivated in; the
remaining 13 acres had previously been
fertilizers Mr.. Bronson remarked:
Conservation has taught me to believe
that farmers who have almost abandoned
the use of lime, and substituted many of
the various so-called fertilizers, are impov-
erishing their lands, and have been de-
prived of their hard earnings, having been
induced to purchase by the ingenuity of
manufacturers, producing numerous testi-
monialS of their magic results.
eff we were entirely dependent upon the
patent manures in the market, our land
would in time become almost as barren as
that of the great Sahara, and our children
would be crying for bread Twenty-Five
years back, Brandywine and her sister
townships were illuminated almost nightly
by the light from some lime kiln in the
neighborhood; to-day we find them con-
verified into ice-houses, and the trade entirely
in the hands of the few who make it spe-
cial business. When we apply lime and
barn-yard manure, we need no stakes to
mark the result. Their application has
long since ceased to be an experiment-the
effects are evident. Raw-bone, beyond
doubt, is an excellent fertilizer; yet its
market value is such that the farmer can
not affort to apply it in quantities necessary
for a permanent substitute for lime. An
old horse, after having faithfully served
the will of his master and paid the debt of
nature, is more valuable, properly managed,
than one ton of most of the fertilizers in
the market The deposits in the hennery
are valuable when fixed in equal parts with
plaster and applied to corn, or wheat, broad
cast. Good shelter for our barn-yards is
also one of the very best investments
farmer can make; manure exposed to the
sun and drenching rains in the barn yard
is almost worthless, the substance of fer
tilizing properties having long since pol
luted some rivulet, and passed into the
ocean,"
Mr.. Isaac L. Sahler, of West Brandywine,
raised on one acre 131 bushels and &c pounds
of corn, allowing 70 pounds of ears to the
bushel.