The Portland daily press., 1878-09-12
A Field meeting of Farmers.

The Sturtevant Brothers on their Woosh-
ken Farm at South birmingham, Mass,
July 18th, held a farmers field meeting, at
which 120 gentlemen practically interested in
agriculture were present. Under the lead and
direction of DR.. E. Lewis Sturtevant, the
company proceeded to visit the several fields
OF Indian corn grown for experimental pur-
poses, for market and for the raising of seed
corn. The first field visited contained 0 IL
acres, land upon which was growing the fourth
consecutive crop of corn, no other fertilizers
having been used except the Stockbridge ma
nures. The principal aim in the cultivation
of this field is to determine whether or not
the corn crop may be continuously and sue
cessfully cultivated for term of years on the
same piece of ground with no manures except
chemical fertilizers. During the past three
years each acre of this field has averaged
total yield of 191 bushels of corn. The field
was machine cultivated, and the cost of the
labor on the crop to date, averaged $3.50 per
acre, and for fertilizers $40 so per acre.
The second field visited was 1 3-8 acres in
extent, and cultivated as seed areas, manured
heavily with barnyard manure and chemical
fertilizers. In this area the effort is made to
develop variety of corn which shall possess,
through heredity, the desired quality of fruit
fulness that all the kernels will be able to de-
velop and mature under proper conditions, at
least one ear to a stalk. This field was
planted with one peck of seed selected from
one thousand bushels of ears. Only the
twin-eared stalks were considered as suitable
for furnishing seed. The eight-rowed corn is
selected, because it is more likely to have
small cob than the twelve-rowed, and yields
smaller stock, finer fodder, better adapted
for feeding. A fine growing stock cut at the
proper season and well cured, DR.. Sturtevant
claims from his own experience in producing
milk from his herd of Ayrshire cattle in the
winter months, to be worth three-fifths of an
equal weight of hay. The ears which fur
nished the seed corn above mentioned, were
small in diameter, but large in kernel; the
cob was but trif1e over II per cent. in
amount, small in diameter and of even taper;
the ear was as large at the tip as at the butt;
the kernels perfectly even in the row. Weight
sixty-four pounds to the struck bushel. One
dollar per pint or sixty-four dollars per bushel
was offered for this seed before planting.
As this field OF 3 s acres was entirely cul-
tivated by hand, it is interesting to note the
difference between its cost per acre and that
of the IL acre field that was cultivated
entirely by machinery. The cost per acre for
labor was $500, and for fertilizers S4S.O0
per acre.
The third field visited was one of ten acres,
cultivated for a market crop, and without
any outside expenses in experimenting. 1t
was mostly sod land, fertiized solely with
Stockbridge manures applied broadcast, Gull
tivated entirely by machinery. The cost of
fabor per acre to this was $3.50, and cost of
ertilizers $29.50.
DIR. Sturtevant stated that the first requi-
site to successful corn culture is good seed;
that without it, manuring and cultivating are
in a measure lost. He stated from actual
figures the great economy in the use of ma
chinery by all who cultivated an area suffi-
cient TO warrant fha nurchasa of imnrovad
tools and implements, at the same time ad-
mitting that was it an injudicious investment
for the farmer who cultivated but single acre
of corn, to make such an outlay for tools as
was only warranted by him who cultivated
many acres.