Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-06-25
Large Crops of Corn.

| throughout the country last year was
less than thirty bushels per acre, the
product of many fields was over a
hundred bushels. The difference be-
| tween the highest and lowest yields of
corn was greater than for almost any
crop produced Farmers should en-
deavor to bring up the yield of corn to
| the highest point possible. Nearly rs
| much labor Is expended on land that
produces but twenty bushels of corn
per acre as on that which yields five
times that amount. The time spent in
blowing and otherwise preparing the
soil is the same in either case. The
cost of harvesting is nearly the same
More labor may be required to cut up
and put in shock large stalks of corn
than those that are small, but it is
| much easier to husk long, full-grown
ears than those that are short and
small. The former are shelled the
more readily whether the work is per-
formed by hand or by the aid of ma
chine. The quality of corn crop ia
almost every instaHce corresponds
| with the quantity produced The
| larger the yield, the better is the grain.
Both its keeping and its feeding quail
ties are better. Large ears of corn
part with the moisture they contain
more readily than small ones do,
chiefly for the reason that the proper
ton of grain to cob is larger. Very
large ears seldom become moldy in
the crib.
Climate has much to do in insuring
large yield of corn. The latitude of
forty degrees appears to be most IA
vorable to the production of corn. 1t
is produced in all the southern states,
and in most of them it is fairly pro-
Stable crop, but the yield is much
, smaller than in what is known as the
'corn belt" In places where the soil
is naturally quite rich, the stalks at
tain an enormous size, with correspond
| ingly large ears. But the size attain
ed by the stalks makes il necessary to
locate the hills so far apart that their
, number on an acre is much smaller
than in the northern states. The warm
season is much longer III the southern
than in the northern states, and the
continued warmth is favorable TO the
growth of corn, but the heat is likely
to be attended by a long-continued
filing out. In favorable seasons as
large crops of corn are raised on the
forty. second as on the fortieth degree
of latitude, though some more labor is
required to produce it. Smaller va
rieties, and those that mature in a
shorter time, are planted for pruden-
tiai reasons. AS the stalks are small
er, the hills are placed nearer together,
involving more labor in planting, Gull
tivation, and harvesting. Many of
the largest crops of corn reported last
season we're produced in the latitude
of this city. The grain was excellent
and the fodder superior to that pro-
duced farther south.
Many of the ordinary crops of corn
produced last year-that is, those
where the yield was reported as over
hundred bushels per acre-were pro-
duced on land to which commercial
fertilizers had been literally applied.
Severed of the very large yields from
small fields were the result of apply
ing well-rotted manure, ashes, and
bene-dust directly to the hill. A very
large proportion of the best crops,
however, were raised on land to which
no fertilizers had been applied that
season or the previous year. They
were produced on red clover sod.
The ground had in some previous
year received a very heavy dressing,
which had resulted in producing a
luxurious growth of clover. The coarse
manure had become rotten in the soil
and stimulated the corn plants in the
earlier period of their growth. Later
in the season the roots of the clover
became rotten, and furnished plant
food. In England it has long been
the practice to raise clover with a view
of preparing the land to produce a
crop of wheat. Experience in this
country shows that land can be fitted
for raising corn in the same way. In
many parts of the west, rolling land
has been plowed and planted to corn
for so long a time that large gullies
have been produced in it. The soil
has also been impoverished by raising
the same crop year after year. These
lands shoulc have period of rest and
recuperation. Seeding them to clover
will produce the desired result in a
short time.
Very few of the premium corn crops
reported were put in with a horse
planter These machines are useful
and perhaps necessary in places where
labor is scarce and very large fields
are to be planted. That they drop
and cover corn as satisfactory as can
be done by hand is not claimed. The
best results were obtained by laying
out the rows with marker, dropping
the seed by hand, and covering it with
hoe. The hand hoe was employed
in connection with the cultivator in
tending the crop. 1t was used before
the plants were sufficiently large to
admit of the running of the cultivator
between the rows. The use of the
! hand hoe was the most common in
places outside the ''corn belt" where
the people do not rely chiefly on an ex-
cellent soil and climate to produce a
good corn crop. The employment of
the corn planter and the double team
cultivator has enabled western farm
ers to put in and tend very large fields
of corn, but it is obvious to every OBJ
server that these implements have not
resulted in increasing the yield per
acre. Hand planting y hand hoe
ing appear to be necessa to produce
very large crops of corn in any part
of the country. Such, at least, is the
report of those who raised the premium