Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-04-27
My Corn Crop.

Your reference to my yield of corn in
your paper has caused many inquiries
about the kind of land it grew on, and my
management of it. The following are
some of the questions propounded: Was
your soil heavy or lighup What distance
apart did YOU plantp What kind Of manure
and how much to the acre did you put on
the corn? Did you put any manure in the
hill, and if so, what kind? How many
times did you hoep How many stalks did
you have in hIll' Is your corn early or
Iatep ETC., etc. Please give me space in
YOUR columns to reply to some Of these
queries.
The land l raised my corn on was a
moist, gravelly soil, pretty we'll mixed
with muck, with "a hard subsol, us it was
probably once an alder swamp, and be-
fore draining would have produced moth.
my but meadow grass. Yet it was on II
ridge probably one hundred feet above the
river. My rows were four feet apart, hills
Two feet. Spread On the land II fair coat
OF coarse barn manure made the summer
before, with II horse, two COWS and hog
Put II moderate shovelful Of dressing in
lie hill, mostly of muck put under my
~ up NllC 1tii WHICH Idl IecOnlt
well saturated with urine. Stirred the
gruund around the hills rs soon rs it was
all out of the ground think | hoed 1t
twice, making some hill; then went all
over the ground with the hoe ab ,ut the
lme the corn began TO fill OUT, thoroughly
sli,ring the top of the soil, killing the
growing weeds. This think does more
70 leng hen the ears and increase the crop
than either of the other hoeings. | always
plant my rows rs nearly rs possible north
md south, rs it gives the suns rays Il
chance to strike the roofs of the corn this
think important, | was quite careless
tbou dropping The corn, rs | was looking
for no extra crop; put from four to six and
light kernels in II hll. as wanted AS much
.udder us possible. oidn't pull up SINGLE
stalk, though there were eight alks or
more in some hills. The corn ripens very
early. l raised good crop on II part OF
The same ground last year of sound corn,
though the season was the hardest have
known since 1876.
| don't think it makes much difference
about the kind of seed corn planted, pro
vded it is acclimated. raised Just the
same kind of corn more than fifty years
ago. think | can take corn grown in
any part Of New England, or as far south
AS Virginia, and by successive cultivation
acclimate 1t here so as 10 ripen every year
there Were number of stalks came III
in my quarter of an acre, of different kinds
Of southern corn, and | saved half a dozen
kinds for seeds, 1t came in load OF
stable dressing. think there are half Il
U.lripIiaa IF hinI Il IL,
bly, grow.
| don't think raised very extra crop
| once thought doubtful if one hundred
bushels of sound shelled corn could be
raised on an acre, out have now no doubt
but that much more than that may be rails
ed. More than at the rate of one hundred
and forty bushels to the acre in several in
stances are reported, and we'll vouched fol
by reliable committees. Mr.. Irwin Nelson
of Sutton, N. H., as reported by the New
Hampshire Mirror, raised one hundred
and thirty eight bushels of shelled corr
from an acre this year. l purpose tn,
coming year to see what l can do corr
raising. The distance the rows and hill
should be apart is yet an unsettled ques
ZION with US. have no doubt we can re
better corn and longer ears by plantin!
four feet rows and two feet hills, thai
nearer.
AS am farming partly for the bene fit @
others, propose to settle this question b.
planting part three, three and one-hal
and four in the rows, and hills one and one
half two and three, and if life and heaIt
is spared, will give your readers the bent
+ lit OF my experience. l propose also I
: test the kind and quantity Of dressing he,
p tor corn, as shall have super ior chanc
next season.-DaUid Broton, in New b,
! gland Farmer.