St. Landry democrat., 1883-05-19
The Culture Of Corn.

get nearly reached Its possibilities. Inc
average yield throughout the country is
about thirty bushels per acre in a good
year. When the season is unfavorable
this yield is reduced to twenty-five BUSH
els per acre or less. In 1880 there were
SO, 36S,504 acres under this crop, and
the aggregate product was 1,754,59l, >
'676 bushels, or an average of a fraction
more than tWenty-eight bushels, per
acre. At an average of thirty cents
per bushel, or little more, the addition
al value of the aggregate product would
4 be S20,000,000 for each additional
bushel per acre. But it is quite possible
to double the average product Of this
crop by better culture than is now given
ito it, and the extra income thus gained
would pay thestax of every farm in
the country, amounting in the whole to
$500, 100000 in the year with an or
binary product. 1t is thus readily seen
what an. important question is the one
now under consideration not only to
the farmers personally, but to the gem
-eral public interests. The bulk
of the corn grown is simply
put in the ground and no5 care
full cultivation is given to it. The
principal purpose is to get the largest
acreage possible without consideration
for the amount of yield per acre. The
crop is laid by as early as may be, and
is then left to struggle with the ram
pant weeds which soon get an even race
with it on the rich warm soil. The
crop of the great corn producing Safes
is generally grown in this manner, and
it is there that the average is reduced
so much. The States of New Hamp-
shire and Massachusetts surpass Illinois,
Indiana and Kansas in the average
yield. and very closely approach that OF
Iowa, where drainage and the most
skillful methods Of culture are rapidly
pushing that rich State to the very head
of all. But yet Iowa, with its unsur-
passed soil and climate and the energy
and skill Of its farmers, only produces
forty-one bushels to the acre in a good
year, as in 1880, which was the last cen
sus year. New York, Pennsylvania
and Ohio fall very little below Illinois
in the yield of this crop, and yet in
these States there are hundreds Of farm
lers who produce in fair seasons seventy
FIVE to eighty bushels per acre.
This is not strange, because it is easier
TO grow crop of this amount upon the
poorer soils Of the East than it is to
produce an equal yield upon the rich
prairie soils OF the West, where the land
is actually too fertile to produce the
maximum yield of grain, and upon
which the excess Of fertility in the soil
lis expended upon stalk and leaf ,rather
than upon the ear. And this popularity
of corn is all in favor of the farmer
whose soil has been under long cultiva
ton. and which is more amenable to the
influences of skillful culture. For, in
the first place, the condition of the.
ground may be made to suit the crop
precisely, and the requirements of the
plant met in the best manner by the ex-,
actly needed manuring or fertilizlng, so
that the whole strength Of the plant
may be directed to the ear rather than
TO an enormous growth of stalk and
deaf. In the second place, the seed
may be chosen in regard to the capabil-
lily of the soil and climate. and thirdly,
butnot last, the plant may be SO trained
or bred as to become in the greatest de-
gree prolific and productive. All these
points are very important, as may be
easily shown.
s Corn is now better understood, and
its habits of growth better known, than
they have been heretofore. This has
been learned by good deal of expert
and observation, and the
knowledge is of the greatest value to
the farmer. 1t is now known that a soil
or manure rich in nitrogen is detriment-
at to the yield, inasnuch as it develops
HE stalk and foliage too much. 1t is
with corn as it is with a fruit tree, which
ia a rich soil produces wood and leaf |
.bundantly, but very sparely of fruit.
With heterogeneous manuring, or in a soil |
werlich in nitrogen, corn produces
arge stalks, mainly suckers, a wealth
If foliage, and one ear. and it is this
'ichness Of the virgin soils Of the West
which prevents the corn there grown
rom bearing SO abundantly of grain,
while it produces much heavier stalks
md leaves than the corn Of the East.
1t the same time the trained soils, so to
peak, of the East, have proved their
Utility, even in Massachusetts,, to pro-
luce eighty bushels per acre of such
mall grain as the hard yellow flint, and
more than one hundred bushels of
he more prolific dent varieties. This is
explained by the fact that corn grows
he most rapidly when the process Of
aitrifcation Of the organic matter in it
s most active. and when the atmos-
,heric contribution of nitrates is the
and is thus able, more than any
'ther crop, to supply itself with nitrogen
rom the soil. Corn, too, is remark
lbiy vigorous feeder, and like clover is
bile to gather its supply Of nitrogen
rom The soil far more effectively than
wheat, and these facts have very inn
,ortant bearing upon the proper system