Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-07-30
COrn-Raising.

Corn is, by common consent, the most
valuable grain raised on this continent
and, probably, in the world; and corn
growing in the West is a part of every
farmers business. A Western farmers
specially may be wheat, or tobacco, or
cattle, or wool, or pork, or broom-cOrn, or
castor beans or fruit; but whatever it is,
raising u crop of corn is an Indispensable
appendagc to it. He must have corn for
his own use, if not 20 sell 1t is the cheap
est of all stock feed, and its cOnvcrtibility
into so many useful forms increases its
homely value. 1t can be turned into
cattle, horses, mules, hogs, poultry and
spirits: and it is considered the most easi-
ly raised of all cTOps-One breaking up,
one planting and four plOwings being the
regulation allowance of work for an aver
age corn crop.
And yet it may be questioned whether
Western farmers really understand corn
growing. This is an audaciOus statement,
we know, and the Missouri Granger who
has been raising the grain off and on for
forty years will, Wien he reads it, wonder
where these city newspapers have learned
more about his business than he knows.
If there is one thing every old farmer
flatters himself he knows all about it is
how to raise corn; and to have his knowl-
edge questioned at this time of life is
enough to cause his honest face to flush
with anger. But let us 90 to the record
and see what the facts are The amount
of corn raised in this country is enormous !;
in 1870 it was 76l ,000, 900 bushels, and
five years before, in 1865, it was estimated
at 932 600, 600 bushels-an average of over
26 bushels to every soul in the land. OF
this Illinois produced the largest portion,
130, 100000 bushels; Iowa came next with
So, 100000 bushels, and Missouri next to
Iowa with 66,000,000 bushels. These
figures show how important the crop is
how easily it is raised and what immense
quantities of it are consumed. But statis-
tics carefully collected by the Department
of Agriculture at Washington, from the
year 1865 to the year 1873, force the convic-
tion that the average yteid per acre, COM
pared with the maximum yields secured
by careful cultvators, is very low-not
more than one-fourth what it might be. In
Maryland the average is % bushels per acre
in Virginia it is % bushels in Pennsylva-
mia it is 32 bushels in OhiOi is 81 bushels,
and for the United States the average is
24 bushels. The very highest average fOr
any one State is 80 bushels, for Kansas.
How insufficient these averages are may
be judged when it is stated that there are
numerous well-attested cases in which
yields of 20 to 40 bushels, and even more,
of shelled corn have been obtained from
one acre of ground. In 1878 the Carroll
| County (Md.) Agricultural Society offered
a premium of 800 for the largest amount
of corn raised on an acre, and il was taken
| by Mr.. j, Brown, of Baltimore County
who produced 12015 bushels of shelled
| grain and $3.50 pounds Of good fodder on
| the limited area. The ground was tim.
othy meadow, broken deep, subsOiled and
| lightly spread with stable manure ii was
then treated TO an application of SOC
pounds of bone dust sown broadcast, and
| afterward narrowed and rolled. 1t was
marked off in furrOws three and a halffee
apart and compost of hog manure, sal
and gypsum sprinkled in the burrows; tho
grain was planted six inches apart on tn,
10th of May. After coming up it wa'
carefully narrowed several times and after
ward plowed with shovel ploW. The re
suit was as we have stated,
In 1873 a Mr.. Hudson raised on Ont
acre of ground on the "Oakridge Farm
in Amherst County, Va, 40 bushels o
white corn, the fact being attcsted by Mr.
Fortune, a notary of the county. A copy
of the PiTginid Farmers Register, printed
by Edmund Rulin, ut Petersburg, thirty
five years ago, has this statement; " Mr.
Meggison, of Albemarle County, was re
ported by the county society to have raiset
| 10 bushels of sound shelled corn on on
measured acre Of ground, being river bot
tom and thoroughly cultivated a larg
white sort of corn" In the Department
of Agriculture report for 1868 there is al
authenticated statement that Joseph Coco
rich and Luther Page of Worcester
Mass, each raised III bushels of shelle
corn on one acre Of ground; and the sam
report gives instances in Ohio where 8
and 101 bushels per acre were raised tn
Rockbridge County (Va.) society, at il
meeting in 1871, gave detailed statemeI
Of the results Of competition for the prs
MUM for the largest yield Of corn J. I