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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

P >> P. L. Simmonds >> The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom




The Indian corn crop of 1850, for the whole of the United States, is
returned as over 500 million bushels, a gain of about 40 millions on
that of 1840.

I give below the quantities of Indian corn and meal which were
exported from the United States in the following years:--

Corn, Bushels. Meal, Bushels. Value. Dolls.
1790 1,713,241
1794 1,505,977 241,570
1798 1,218,231 211,694
1802 1,633,283 566,816
1806 1,064,263 108,342 1,286,000
1810 1,054,252 86,744 1,138,000
1814 61,284 26,438 170,000
1818 1,075,190 120,029 2,335,405
1822 509,098 148,288 900,656
1826 505,381 158,652 1,007,321
1829 897,656 173,775 974,535
1833 437,174 146,678 871,814

--(_Pitkin's Statistics of the United Stales, and Seybert's
Statistical Annals_.)

_System of culture pursued in the United States_.--Maize, the _corn,
par excellence_, of America, is grown in every State in the Union.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana, are in their order
the greatest producers of this grain. In Illinois, North Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York,
Maryland, Arkansas, and the New England States, it appears to be a
very favorite crop. In Massachusetts, the most Northern and least
favorable State on that account, being cold, a fair proportion is
grown, the aggregate produce being greater there than in any of the
grains, except oats; more, indeed, than might be expected, were not
labor somewhat cheaper than in more Southern States, where the climate
is more congenial. The ordinary produce is twenty-five bushels per
acre; forty bushels is often raised, and in prize crops the weight has
come up to 100 bushels per acre. In Ohio the average is fifty-five
bushels to the acre. The eight and twelve-rowed varieties of Indian
corn are those most usually grown in New York, and the average produce
of a good field in that State is from forty to sixty bushels; on
ordinary ground twenty-five to thirty is a fair crop. The same returns
appeared to be derived from ground in New Jersey. Mr. Doubleday, of
Binghampton, New York, estimates the produce of that neighbourhood at
forty bushels, and the expense of raising the crop as follows,
estimating the worth of the land at twenty-five dollars (say L5) per
acre:--

Dollars. Cents.
The interest of which is 1 16
One ploughing with double team, and harrowing 3 50
Seed and planting 1 00
Plaster or gypsum, and putting on the hill 0 37
Ploughing and hoeing twice, cutting
or stalking the corn 2 75
Husking or thrashing 2 50
-----------------
11 62

Average yield, forty bushels; cost of produce, twenty-nine cents. (1s.
41/2d.) per bushel.

Nothing is here put down for manure or cartage, because the fodder,
cut up and saved, as usually adopted, is equal to the manure required.
It is looked upon that the preparation of ground for corn costs less
than wheat; the approved plan is to plant on sward ground, ploughing
at once, and turning the ground completely over, then harrowing
longitudinally until, a good tilth is obtained. Should the soil not be
rich enough, stable manure is first spread on the land.

Now suppose the corn to sell at seventy-five cents the bushel, the
account would stand thus:--

Dollars. Cents.
Forty bushels, at seventy-five cents. 30 00
Cost 11 62
---------------
Gain per acre 18 38

or L3 13s. 6d. British money profit per acre.

In Lichfield, Connecticut, the cost of produce has been, for the
items as stated above, eighteen dollars twenty-five cents, or the cost
of each bushel thirty-six and one-half cents. The acre produce was
fifty bushels, so that it stood thus:--

Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy-five cents 37 50
Cost 18 25
-----------------
Gain 19 5

or L3 12s. per acre.

The cost of producing maize varies somewhat in the other States,
thus:--

Per bushel.
Cents.
New Hampshire (Unity) the cost was 50
Fayette county, Pennsylvania 16 1/4
Donesville, Michigan, only 17 1/2
Plymouth, Massachusetts 17 7/10

The cost on producing this crop was small, but it appears to have been
a small crop, and did not bring more than thirty cents per bushel.

In Monroe county, the richest land in the State of New York,
estimating the land at fifteen dollars per acre, the producing cost
stood at:--

Dollars. Cents.
Interest at six per cent. 0 45
One ploughing sward, cover or stubble 1 00
Harrowing, furrowing, seed, and planting 0 871/2
Cultivating three times and hoeing 1 00
Husking the hill 1 00
Shelling and cleaning 1 00
---------------
5 821/2

This yielded fifty bushels, the cost of producing the bushel was
eleven and three-fifths cents. This low cost was owing to the fact of
no manure being used; and while it speaks volumes as to the natural
fertility of American soils, yet it reflects very disgracefully upon
the careless system adopted there, as under such treatment no land
could continue, after some years, to produce a crop which could come
into competition with those from newer and less exhausted lands; but
if under a good system of tillage the ground was yearly renewed with
manure, and those amendments which every soil requires, after a crop
has been raised from it, added to the soil in top-dressing and in
ploughing-in, we should never hear of the exhausted state of New
England land, or see the sons of the soil moving west and cultivating
newer soils, thus removing much of the capital and intelligence of a
country away from it.

Supposing the corn of Monroe county sold at seventy cents per bushel,
the balance would appear thus:--

Dollars. Cents.
Fifty bushels, at seventy cents 35 00
Cost of production 5 821/2
--------------
Gain 29 181/2

L6 1s. per acre profit.

In Northern Ohio and in Illinois the cost of production averages
twenty cents per bushel.

The mode of cultivation in Connecticut and the New England States has
been thus described to me by Mr. L. Durand, an experienced
agriculturist:--If the soil selected is light and mellow, it should be
ploughed and subsoiled in the spring, first spreading on the coarse
unfermented manure which is to be ploughed in. For marking the rows
for planting, a "corn marker" may be used to advantage. It is made by
taking a piece of scantling, three inches square and ten to twelve
feet long, with teeth of hickory or white oak inserted at distances of
two to four feet, according to the width designed for the rows. Then
an old pair of waggon-thills and a pair of old plough-handles are put
to it, and your marker is done. With a good horse to draw this
implement, the ground may be made ready for planting very rapidly. It
is better to leave the ground flat than to ridge it, for the latter
mode has no advantage, except when the ground is wet. The difference
in the two modes is chiefly this:--When the ground is ridged, the corn
being planted between the edges of the furrows, it comes immediately
in contact with the manure, springs up and grows rapidly the fore part
of the season. When the ground is left flat, and the manure turned
under the furrows, the corn will often look feeble at first, and in
growth will frequently be much behind that on the ridges; and the
inference early in the season is, that the ridged ground will give the
best crop, but as soon as the roots of the corn on the flat ground get
hold of the manure (say about the 20th of July), the corn will shoot
rapidly ahead, and the full force of the manure will be given to the
stalk just at the time of forming the grain. Corn cultivated in this
way, if the soil is deeply tilled, will often keep green, while that
on ridges is dried up.

Many farmers, at planting, shell the corn off the cob, and plant it
dry. Others soak it a few days in warm water. But when the seed is
only treated in this way, it is very likely to be pulled up by birds
and injured by worms. The best way to prevent this is to first soak
the corn in a strong solution of saltpetre; then take a quantity of
tar, and having warmed it over a fire, pour it on the corn, and stir
with a stick or paddle till the grain is all smeared with the tar;
then add gypsum or plaster till the corn will separate freely, and no
birds will touch the grain.

The time of planting, in the United States, varies with the season and
the section of the country. In New England it may generally be planted
from the 15th to the 25th May. Where the ground is flat, a light
harrow or a cultivator is much better to go between the rows than the
plough. Formerly a great deal of useless labor was spent in hilling up
corn; in dry seasons this was worse than useless. The earth hauled
round the stalk does not assist its growth, nor aid in holding it up;
the brace roots, which come out as the stalk increases in height,
support it; and it has been observed, that in a heavy storm and
thunder gust, corn that is hilled will be broken down more than that
which is not hilled. The ground which is kept level has also the
advantage of more readily absorbing rain, rendering the crop less
liable to suffer from drought. The field should have two or three
regular hoeings, and the weeds be carefully kept under.

In harvesting the following will be found a good plan:--Let two hands
take five rows, cutting the corn close to the ground. A hill should be
left standing to form the centre of the shock, placing the stalks
round it, so that they may not lie on the ground. After the shock is
made of sufficient size, take a band of straw, and having turned down
the tops of the stalks, bind them firmly, and the work is done.

Maize may be cut as soon as the centre of the grain is glazed, even if
the stalks are green. There will be sufficient nutriment in the stalk
to perfect the ear, and the fodder is much better than when it gets
dry before it is cut. If the shocks are well put up, they may stand
four or five weeks. The corn may then be knocked out, and the fodder
secured for winter use.

The report of the Ohio Board of Agriculture for 1849, contains many
interesting statements in reference to maize culture, made by the
officers of numerous county agricultural societies. In Miami county,
2,030,670 bushels were grown, at an average yield of fifty-five
bushels per acre. Three varieties are cultivated: the common gourd
seed, for cattle; the yellow Kentucky, for hogs and distilling; and
the white, for grinding and exportation. According to the returns from
Green county, which produced 1,250,000 bushels of corn in 1849, "a
regular rotation of clover, corn, wheat, and clover again, is best for
corn; and no crop pays better for extra culture." The Harrison county
Agricultural Society reports the pork crop at 4,800,000 pounds; and it
gave its first premium for corn to Mr. S.B. Lukens, whose statement is
as follows:--

"The ground had been in meadow ten years, was ploughed six inches
deep about the middle of April, was harrowed twice over on the 9th
May, and planted on the 11th four feet by two feet. It came up well,
was cultivated and thinned when ten inches high; three stalks were
left in a hill. About two weeks afterward it was again cultivated,
and the suckers pulled off. About the last of June it was again
cultivated, making three times the same way, as it was laid off but
one way.

d. c.
Expense of culture, gathering, and cribbing, was 17 10
Produce of 374-3/8 bushels, at 311/4 cents 117 10
----------
Profit on three acres 100 00


The evidence on which a premium was awarded was such as should satisfy
any one that 374 bushels were grown on three acres of land, and at a
cost not exceeding 17 dollars 10 cents, delivered in the crib. This is
producing corn at less than 5 cents a bushel.

Whether the statement be true to the letter or not, it shows
conclusively the great value of a _rich soil_ for making cheap corn.
The Board of Agriculture estimates the crop of Ohio last year at
70,000,000 of bushels. Taking the United States as a whole, probably
the crop of corn was never better than in the year 1849. One that has
rich land needs only to plough it deep and well, plant in season, and
cultivate the earth properly with a plough or cultivator, to secure
the growth of a generous crop. On poor soils the case is very
different.

To raise a good crop of corn on poor land, and at the least possible
expense, requires some science and much skill in the art of tillage.
Take the same field to operate in, and one farmer will grow 100
bushels of corn at half the cost per bushel that another will expend
in labor, which is money. It unfortunately happens that very skilful
farmers are few in number, in comparison with those who have failed to
study and practice all attainable improvements. To produce cheap corn
on poor land, one needs a clear understanding of what elements of the
crop air and water will furnish, and what they cannot supply. It
should be remembered that the atmosphere is precisely the same over
ground which yields 100 bushels of corn per acre, that it is over that
which produces only five bushels per acre. Now, the whole matter which
forms the stems, leaves, roots, cobs, and seeds of corn, where the
crop is 100 bushels per acre, is not part and parcel of the soil. A
harvest equal to fifty bushels per acre can be obtained without
consuming over ten per cent, of earth, as compared with the weight of
the crop. No plant can imbibe more of the substance of the soil in
which it grows, than is dissolved in water, or rendered gaseous by the
decomposition of mould.

The quantity of matter dissolved, whether organic or inorganic, during
the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of their solids,
is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter, in a mature,
perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, leaves, and roots, are
carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. It is not only an
important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, that the most
effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those that least abound
in the elements of water and carbon. The unleached dry excrements of
dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five times the fertilising power on
all cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow has, although
the latter has five times more carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100
pounds, than the former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil
in which corn is to grow as much of organised carbon and water as one
conveniently can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many
miles; it is important to know that such of the measure as would form
_coal_, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of
those elements in manure which form vapor or water, when the
fertiliser decomposes in the ground.

Carbonic acid and nascent hydrogen evolved in rotting stable manure
are truly valuable food for plants, and perform important chemical
offices in the soil; but they are, nevertheless, not so indispensable
to the economical production of crops, as available nitrogen, potash,
silica, magnesia, sulphur, and phosphorus. These elements of plants
being less abundant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming
corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their artificial
supply in guano, night soil, and other highly concentrated
fertilisers, adds immensely to the harvest, through the aid of a small
weight of matter. In all sections where corn is worth 30 cents and
over a bushel, great benefits may be realised by the skilful
manufacture and use of poudrette. This article is an inodorous
compound of the most valuable constituents of human food and clothing.
It is the raw material of crops.

It is not necessary to restore to a cornfield all the matter removed
in the crop to maintain its fertility. A part of each seed, however,
ought to be carried back and replaced in the soil, to make good its
loss by the harvest.

In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 pounds), there
are not far from 186 pounds of carbon (coal), and the elements of
water. When a bird eats wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from
several experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food escapes into
the air through its capacious lungs in the process of respiration; and
yet the 20 per cent, of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or
corn as was consumed. Imported guano, which has been exposed to the
weather for ages, often gives an increase in the crop of wheat equal
to three pounds of seed to one of fertiliser; while it has given a
gain of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green turnips.

Like other grains that have been long cultivated, Indian corn abounds
in varieties. In Spain they count no less than 130, and in the United
States the number is upwards of forty. The difference consists in
size, color, period of maturation, and hardness and weight of grain.
Of size there exists a considerable variety, from Zea Curagua of
Chili, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, both extremely diminutive, to
the large white flint, and ground seed corn of the United States. The
differences in color are the red, yellow, and white. The period of
maturation varies, apparently, very considerably; but it is
questionable whether this variation is real, and independent of
climate. In the Northern States of America, Indian corn ripens in a
shorter period of time than it does in the South, owing, possibly, to
the greater length of the summer day in those latitudes.

In selecting varieties, some experienced and judicious farmers prefer
that which yields the greater number of ears, without regard to their
size, or number of rows. Others prefer that which furnishes one or two
larger ears, having from twelve to twenty-four rows. In the Northern
States of America the yellow corn bears the highest price in the
market, and is considered the most prolific and best suited to feed
cattle and hogs. For bread, the white Button is preferred at the
North, and the white ground seed is used for that purpose in other
quarters. Preference, however, is most frequently given to white flint
corn, which is unquestionably the heaviest, and contains the greatest
proportion of farina.

In Mississippi many varieties are grown, principally those known as
flint and bastard flint. The gourd-seed varieties are very
objectionable in that climate, principally on account of their
softness rendering them unfit for bread, and open to the attacks of
insects in the field and the crib. They require a grain, _white_,
_hard_, and rather flinty--_white_ because of its great consumption in
bread and hommony, in the preparation of both of which their cooks
greatly excel. When meal is ground for bread, the mill is set rather
wide, that the flinty part of the grain may not be cut up too fine,
this being sifted out for "small hommony;" the farinaceous part of the
grain is left for bread. This hommony is a beautiful and delicious
dish. On most plantations the negroes have it for supper, with
molasses or buttermilk. A _hard flinty_ grain is necessary to head the
weevil, with which not only the cribs but the heads of corn in the
field are infested. These are the _Calandra oryzae_, the true rice
weevil, distinguished from his European cousin by the two reddish
spots on each _elytra_ or wing-cover, and known in America as the
"black weevil;" also a little brown insect, not a true weevil, but a
_Sylvanus_. This sylvanus, and another of the same genus, most
probably the _S. surinamensis_, attack the corn in the field before it
becomes hard, causing serious damage--but nothing to equal that
occasioned by the black weevil.

I know of no generally successful method of staying or even checking
the injury caused by the insects, though much might be written in the
way of suggestion.

In Michigan, the _dent_ variety in dry seasons produces the best crops
on sandy loam, as its roots run deeper than the common _eight-rowed_
yellow or white. In moist seasons the latter varieties usually do
well. They are grown most generally in the Northern part of the State,
while in the Southern section the Ohio dent is principally raised. The
shuck and blade are much used as fodder for cattle, in the early part
of winter.

Indian corn is very liable to change of character from soil and
climate, growing smaller the farther North it is raised. The mixing of
the eight-rowed yellow with the Ohio dent has, so far as my experience
goes, been beneficial in increasing the yield. Sandy loam, or clay, is
considered the soil best adapted to corn. It is usually planted in
May, and harvested in September. The blade is not taken off there as
at the South; some farmers cut up their corn when ripe, put it into
shocks, and husk it late in the fall; others cut the stalks, bind them
in sheaves, and stack them for winter in the fields, or put them away
in barns or sheds; while others husk the corn on the hill without
cutting the stalks, and late in the fall turn their cattle into the
field to eat the fodder. Of these different modes the preference is
usually given to cutting the stalks and putting them under cover
after being well cured, and busting the corn on the hill. The corn is
thought to ripen better in this way, and to keep better in the cribs.
The Ohio dent, having a smaller ear containing less moisture than
other varieties, ripens quicker and keeps better. This crop ranges
from 25 to 65 bushels per acre, and the difference in the yield is to
be attributed to the manner of cultivation. My experience shows that a
crop of 45 bushels per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including
interest on land. Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home
consumption, and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worths
dollars per acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton.

As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some instances,
in Massachusetts; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was considered an
average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and ploughing in long
manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now raised. The kinds
preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, procured originally from
Canada; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed variety, and the Dutton
corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. to the bushel.

Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut River Valley, Western
Vermont, and along the Lake shore; but in the high dividing ridge, and
in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, the climate is too
severe for its profitable cultivation.

"The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colburn, of Vermont) is the
yellow eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed,
known here by the name of the Button corn; but my experience in
cultivating the different kinds for the last twenty-four years, has
forced me to the conclusion that the common eight-rowed, mixed with
a kind called the Brown corn, does the best; the kernel of
the-latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these
two kinds of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when
they become blended, and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in
high tilth. Of this kind, the writer has raised, the past season,
upon eleven acres on the Connecticut River alluvium, over eight
hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra
preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels.

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Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson in terrifying form in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, is a frustrated writer who goes with his wife and son to spend the winter in the isolated Overlook Hotel in an attempt to get the novel he has always wanted to write started. But the hotel's grisly past and unquiet ghosts have their way with him, and his wife Wendy eventually finds that the manuscript he has been working on actually only contains the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", typed over and over again.

Now New York artist Phil Buehler, who describes himself as "a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King", has self-published a book credited to Torrance, repeating the phrase throughout but formatting each page differently, using the words to create different shapes from zigzags to spirals.

"The idea has probably been marinating for years, because I loved the movie and the Stephen King book," said Buehler. "I'd just finished my own obsessive art project [and] it was an idea I had over the Christmas holidays."

He said he decided to stick to type and formatting that could have been created on a typewriter, with the first ten pages duplicating shots of Torrance's work from the film. "I thought 'if he continues to get crazier, what would those pages look like?'" he said. "I hit writer's block about 60 pages in, and I had to get to 80 - that went on for about a week." His fiancée, who had neither read the book nor seen the film, became a little concerned about his actions. "I finally showed her the movie, and she realised I wasn't really losing it," said Buehler.

He's included a spoof review from the blog OverThinkingIt.com on the book's back jacket, which compares it to "the best of Beckett" in its "lack of forward momentum", and considers the struggles of the author, "heroically pitting himself against the Sisyphusean sentence". "It's that metatextual struggle of Man vs. Typewriter that gives this book its spellbinding power," the review says. "Some will dismiss it as simplistic; that's like dismissing a Pollack canvas as mere splatters of paint."

So far, Buehler says that around 1,000 people have viewed the book, for sale on Blurb.com for $8.95 in paperback, or $22.95 in hardback, and he's sold "a few" copies, with sales now starting to pick up steam. "A few people have asked me to sign it - they're looking it as a piece of art rather than a funny thing to give to a Kubrick fan," he said. "If you're not a Kubrick or King fan, you might not even get it."

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