St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-01-20
FARMER ANDPLANTER.
INTENSIVE CORN CULTURE.
The RcAultn Of Experimental Fostered
eultmre are II Interest.

For the past three years the Illinois
board of agriculture has offered a
substantial premium for the largest
yield of corn upon single acre of
ground. Each year the crop taking
the prize has been larger than the rec
ord of the preceding year, and each
year the prize has been taken by white
corn. In the first two contests, Mr.. J.
II. Powers, of Whiteside county, Sc
cured second place. This year (1S3ol
with a yield of 196.27 bushels he CO.
cured first place. In an interview with
q representative of this journal, Mr..
Powers described his methods of cul-
tivation and general results.
The acre in question was one OF
sc,en-acre field of upland bottom,
black loan. The whole field was
planted to the same variety of corn.
but on this record acre it was planted
thicker. For the past six years the
field was in clover sod and used as u
hot. pasture. When it was broken this
year the seven acres were all fertilizei
alike. To each acre was applied 16
loads of stable manure from cattle and
hCrses fed on shredded corn fodder
and grain, the manure being kept un-
der shed cover until used. In no part
of the field was any commercial fer
tillzer used, nor has any ever been
used.
In plowing, the ground was we'll
broken to the depth Of seven or eight
inches, disked thoroughly and dragged
four times with a harrow before plant
ing. Up to this time the whole seven
acres had the same treatment. Corn
on the record acre was planted with =
dropper, SO arranged as to drop as
fast as possible, thus almost drilling
the corn in. When the plants were
from four to six inches high the field
was thinned to two or three kernels
to the hill, the hills being about II
inches apart in the row, and the rows
three feet six inches apart. The field
was narrowed three times between
planting and appearance of the corn
above ground, and once after its ap-
pearance.
The corn was cultivated four times
with riding cultivator, although Mr.
Powers walked in handling it. The
first cultivation was deep. reaching to
the bottom of the plowing. At the
second cultivation, the inside shoveis
were raised, and at third and fourth
cultivation all shovels were raised, Civ
ing very shallow plowing. After cu!-
tivation was all over, Mr.. Powers went
through the corn once with hoe, and
after that as much time as was neccs-
sary to promptly remove all suckers
ard weeds was given it. The season
was in every way favorable for the
crop until the last four weeks before
ripening, when it was too dry. 1t will
b. noted that practically the only diff
ference in the cultivation of this field
and the ordinary corn culture lies in
the extra amount of personal labor
given in stirring the soil before and af-
ter planting. The soil, which was \
black loan with clay subsoil. was
naturally fertile, but not more so ths.,
a great deal of the Illinois corn land.
Mr.. Powers kept record of the
amount of labor given the crop, and
according to his figures, crediting his
time at regular rate of wages and the
cost of team and tools at what It
would have cost to hire them by the
day, the cost of producing this acre IF
corn was about $50, which included an
allowance for interest on the value of
the land. 1t does not include the off.
set ior the value of the fodder, which
he said at low valuation was worth
$40. making the net cost of producing
this 196.27 bushels $40, or about 10
cents per bushel. As the average cost.
including the same items which Mir. |
Powers includes, of producing corn in
Illinois is not far from IS cents per |
bushels, it follows that intensive corn
culture pays.-American Agricultural
iSt