The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-01-16
TIE BOYS AT WORK.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS in CORN
RAISING BY BOYs-AE EXAMPLE
WORTHY or IMITATION.


Stillman b. Allen, esq, for many
years past in successful business IL
Boston, retains a lively interest in the
place. where he spent his Doyhood,
quarter of a century or more ago y oTk
county. Ne. One of the ways OF mani
Testing this interest is in stimulating
theebOys of the present day toobseIYa-
tion, thought and experiment. Last
spring he offered $500 III seven prizes
oHe-Uf 500. one of $50, and five of $40
each-to the boys in the country under
Il years of age who should produce the
most Indian corn upon One-eighth of an
acre. Each boy intending 10 compete
was to send his name before May 1st, to
the President Of the County AgTicultur-
al Society, who had charge Of awarding
the prizes. About two hnndred boys re
ported. \ committee Of one or more
men was appointed in each town to
measure every parcel of ground, and 10
be present at the harvesting. huSking,
and weighing of the crop, and report to
the Town House in Alfred on October
25 Each boy was required to fill ont
the blanks furnished giving a full ac-
count of the time of plOwing, planting
kind Of seed corn, and full particulars
rs TO manure, cultivation etc. (Ihese
blanks viii be bound in book form By
Mr.. Allen, and kept in the archieves Of
the County Agricultural Society FOR re-
ference and use. We have before us
the report of Mr.. John Hall. President
ofIthe Society. giving Il full account OF
the results obtained by LBS Of the bows
some - of whom were present with
their parents and many others, at the
time Uf making the reports. We re
gret not to have been among the mum
Der to nave seen the displays of the
specimens of corn, and especially 60
have seen the bright eyed, euteTprisiug
boys. We have space fUT but an epitCae
Of some Of The results. The ears were
reckUued at T0ibs for a shelled bushei
of 56ibs.
The average yield Of the whole I3e
trials was just about 100 bushels Of shell
led corn per acre. The first prize was
awarded TO Moses Milliken. of bidd6-
ford. for 100 bushels per acre. ID 10
David !. Morrell, of Cornish. l53 bush
els The next five prizes went to \. ..
Bennett, Of NaJerbOTO I45 bushels
Cyrus II. Smith, % Dayton. IA bushels;
Willie b. Moore, Of LimericE, III BUSH
els ; Charlie g. Austin, Of Lebanon,
l41 bushels: and Arthur Deering. of
WATERFORD, 40 bushels. Six boys raised
131 TO i3I bushels; / , raised I20 TO l2T
bushels % produced 10 to 1l9 bushels;
q produced 100 TO I0J bushels-making
- boys who grew 100 bushels and up
ward. y others produced from 80 TO ~
bushels per acre. - obtained 20 to So
bushels. and only 1jfcll below - bushels
Of shelled corn per acre Doubtless
owing to poor soil. lack Of fertilizers.
etc, many of the boys getting the lesser
crops were entitled to high praise for
their efforts. Indeed lrs commend every
rr-1Hf T-sf
to enter the contest.
This shows what can he done in pro-
duciHg corn in a county in Maine ly-
ing between 43- ard A. Of uOrlh lati-
tUIe. Not having the reports before us
We cannot Judge as TO the profit OF such
crops, the Ost or manure, cultivation,
etc. nor are we concerned rs TO jhis IN
The present case. The important result
is the effect upon the boys themselves.
and upon many other BOYS III the C)uu-
try and elsewhere. These boys were
led % ttHr, reason. 05efrre. They viii
each examine into how and why this end
that one succeeded better or poorer than
Themselves. They will be better think
Crs and workers hereafter. Mr.. Alien
thoughtful offer viii he worth t. hi ua-
tive county. in the fan reaching future
results, more tLal ten Of thousand cl
dollars expanded in some ways That
might have been selected. We hear iiy
wish there might be q Stilmau Alien
Tor every county i'm The whole country
and where there is not. we sugges, that
ltEc 5uu-.l necessary one of the $500
prizes often given TO some fast nag '--
be appropriated hg the Society To tla
benefit OF some hundreds of youth. Tie
boys Uf "lT and uudeT' IF Co. .dav. are lu.
be the actors upon the stage q very few