The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-03-13


tility, but was in that light open con
dition that best facilitates root growth.
ROOT DEVELOPMENT.
TO stimulates a still further root 'ic"cl-
opment, especially in the vide spaces
between the alternate rows, where there
was more room for this purpose. tarrc
! burrows were run side by side, in III"
middle Of the wide rows with tn" sub
soil plough and POO pounds Of n!2hiNu-
lated guano was applied in thrs'' ;"r-
rows, the rows beingthen woriZc': -
Thomas harrow. The next day t,p.rr
was about an inch of rain. about, S,N
inches of rain .e.t four days later, and
on June >. the land was lightly stirred
! with 4 hoe. \ little earth WAS IoeG III
to the corn, making the land about
level. There was more rain june +,h
and 5th and on the Sth, three furrnW>,
were again turned in the middle nt Inc
wide rows, this time with 4 .n-;licl
Campbell sweep. Now 500 pounds q"
a mixture composed Of equal parts "!'
manipulated guano, cotton seed INCA!
and kainit was strewn in the wide
space and the corn on the entire field
was hoed. Rain came the next day,
but on June llth, lGO pounds Of nitrate
of soda was sowed in the narrow rows
and hoeG in.
THE WONDERS OF THE CROP.
The crop was now a wonderful sight.
It soon became necessary to put up
posts and nail Stats to them, on both
sides of each row, to prevent tie corn
falling. No hilling was done, but I'll"
whole acre was kept perfectly level.
Arrangements for irrigating had been
made, but the season was early and
wet, as compared with other Years;
rain falling frequently and no irrigation
was necessary. In fact, as Mr.. Drake
saws, "the season was the most farora~
bic for corn ever saw" The fame o:
the contest acre spread far and wide,
and farmers and planters came from all
parts of Marlboro and adjoiningcountics
to behold it. P. l.. Breeden, great
cotton planter, and one of the most
progressive farmers in the State, saysit
was "a wonder to behold'' S. \. Brown,
editor Of the Marlboro Democrat,
writes: "The harvest was indeed 4
curiosity. One laborer told US that the
corn, when pulled, was knee deep on
the ground. The yield was not much
of surprise to those who visited the
crop while growing, and some Marion
farmers put the estimate at 3G0
bushels"
THE HARVAST AND ITS CORRECTNESS.
The acre was surveyed June 18th by
" n. -. eiTIUfu, Il lcSiff SUI FrS u, t'.I<.
also trial justice, who takes oath that
the plot was measured by an accurate
Gunter's chain, and was 29G iS-l47 feet
long and 147 feet wide, containing t%,-
$50 square feet, or precisely one acre.
The boundaries were marked by stakes
firmly driven in the ground, but this
precaution was hardly necessary as 30
other corn was grown in the vicinity,
the acre standing alone by Itself. The
harvesting was done in the presence Of
:, large number Of gentlemen-rcpr2
sentative farmers-including }. {.
CampbelI, as the official representative
of The American Agricu!tuGlSt. Mr.
Campbell supervised the whoI"-aiiaiF.
In addition to all these precautions,
the number and character OF the wit
nesscs made any cheating impossible,
had it been thought Of ard the fact
that no other corn grew in the n"ig'h0r-
hood rendered impossible the addition
of any grown outside the contest acre.
Mr.. Drake and his witnesses certified
before Justice Afford that the era? rs
harvested November 18th, was l7.-!@1
pounds Of corn in the ear, Of which i40
pounds was soft or poor corn. Zach
witness selected from different paris Of
the field an average lot ofears, and from
100 pounds of ears so gathered Mr.. Tart
obtained So! pounds Of kernels and -!
pounds of cobs. Mr.. Reynolds obtained
s. pounds of kernels and IS pounds Of
cobs, and Mr.. Dunn got So! pounds of
kernels and IL! pounds of cobs. Aver
aging these tests shows that 50 per cent.
of the total crop was kernels, Or Il 3:;773
pounds Of shelled corn equal to 334
bushels, 70 pounds ofshelled corn at So
pounds to the bushel. This if kiIH-dricd
until it contained only 10 per cent. Of
water, would shrink to 239 bushels. and
if the water is all allowed for the crop
would be 2l7 bushels Of actual dry
matter in the shelled corn grown on
one acre.