The Portland daily press., 1881-10-25
Corn Raising in Maine.

A marked change in regard to corn rails
ing has occurred in Maine during the past
six years. Six years ago many farmers were
saying that it did not pay to raise corn in
Maine, when Western corn could be brought
in and sold for seventy five cents per bushel.
1t was the general opinion that it cost from
one dollar to one dollar and a quarter per
bushel to raise it in Maine. Farmers, accord
ingly, bought large quantities of Western
corn, instead of raising it on the farm. But
the hard times of 1878, and subsequently,
bore so heavily upon the farmers that 1t was
not easy to obtain the money with which to
buy Western corn, and so they set their wits
to work to try to raise corn at less cost
Commercial fertilizers were used, in addi-
ton to the barn manures, to give the corn
an early start; horse cultivation was made
to take the place of hand hoeing, to con-
siderable extent, and the land was more
heavily dressed so as to secure as large
yield on one acre as had formerly been Cd
tanned on two acres. In this way the cost
of production has been so much reduced
that farmers are saying that it is cheaper to
raise corn than to buy Western corn, even
at fifty cents per bnshel Consequently,
corn raising has greatly increased; some very
large crops have been raised, and it is general
ly regarded as one of the cheapest and best
crops raised on the farm.
L
raised 1O1 bushels of sheled corn on an acre.
The corn was all kept until Jan. l, 1850,
when it was all weighed, 600 pounds of aver
age ears shelled, and the whole crop calcu-
lated therefrom. This was all authentic
crop. well attested, and which received the
$50 corn premium offered by the Lewiston
Journal Other crops as large, or larger,
have been reported, but the corn was not so
thoroughly dried as in that case, B. f.
Maxim of Wayne, in 1880. took the first
premium in Kennebec county, for the best
acre of corn; he raised III bushels on one
acre. The corn was shelled and weighed
Nov. 18th. The corn would shrink consid-
cradle after that date, but allowing for
shrinkage, it must be admitted to be vera
large crop.
There has been lively interest in Maine
among the boys. Stillman B. Allen of Bos-
ton, offered $500 in premiums for the largest
yealds of corn raised by boys under eighteen
yiers of age. Six hundred boys competed
for these prizes, and some remarkably large
crops were raised. The corn was weighed
within twenty-four hours after it was husk-
ed, and seventy five pounds of ears allowed
for one bushel of shelled corn. According
to this method of estimating the yield, more
than four-fifths of the four hundred and
thirteen boys who reported their crops, rails
ed more than one hundred bushels per acre !;
about one-fourth of them raised at the rate
of one hundred and fifty bushels per acre
several at the rate of two hundred bushels,
and one at the rate of two hundred and
forty bushels. f. e. Small of Stockton,
took the first prize of 5000. Even some OF
the girls caught the enthusiasm of corn rails
ing, and Miss Ada J. Mills of West Bethel
was awarded special prize for her enter
prise in raising corn.
Thus, it will be seen, there is a lively
interest in corn raising in Maine, and the
future is very promising, 1t would not be
surprising if Maine should produce all the
corn used by her people within ten years.
Corr. New England Farmer.