204 [Senate 



on winter grain with timothy. The latter makes the most salable 

 hay in the New- York market. 



Indian Corn. — The crop next in importance and amount to hay, is 

 Indian corn. The variety raised here is the large white flint. If the 

 weather permit, it is planted early in May. The springs of 1841 

 and 1842 were both so wet and cold, that much of the early planted 

 corn did not thrive. Some of it rotted, and that which was replanted 

 in June, subsequently overtook the first planting. But the crops of 

 corn these two seasons did not give an average yield. 



Corn here requires heavy manuring to be productive. It is manur- 

 ed in the hill with street dirt from the city of New-York, or a compost 

 of that and barnyard manure, and sometimes with fish. The plants 

 require two plowings and hoeings, or stirring the ground with the 

 cultivator, to pulverize the soil and keep down weeds. The Button 

 corn does not thrive so well here as the white flint, and is only raised 

 in gardens, or for early corn to supply the market, or for family use 

 while green. 



Indian corn is usually planted in hills, from the 1st to the 20th of 

 May, and is harvested in October, the stalks being cut down at the 

 roots. They are then set erect, bound into small stouts and left in 

 field for four or five weeks, when the stouts are opened, and the corn 

 husked in the field in November, or they are housed and husked un- 

 der cover in bad weather, or at other leisure times. The stalks are 

 carefully bound into sheaves, and stored away for winter fodder. 



Wheat. — Although the soil of this island has been under cultiva- 

 tion nearly one hundred and fifty years, it is still capable of produc-' 

 ing good wheat, but it is not a profitable crop, as it requires strong- 

 manuring; and when it is raised, we are unilersold by the cheap grain 

 which comes from the interior down the Hudson river. It is how- 

 ever sown from the time of the equinox in September, to the first of 

 November, in the ordinary rotation to bring the land into grass for 

 hay- Thus corn or potatoes, being hoed crops, are highly manured, 

 and if well managed are kept clear of weeds. The manure unex- 

 pended in the soil is sufficient for a crop of oats the ensuing spring, 

 without additional manure. When the oats are cut, the ground is 

 plowed and manured in the fall for wheat, and seeded with timothy 

 and clover as before stated. Wheat is sowed at the rate of two to 

 two and an half bushels per acre. In 1840 and 1841, the crops of 

 this grain were injured with the rust. This disease has been attributed 

 here to dense sea fogs, but the writer queries whether it may not be 

 owing to some deficiency in the soil, as soda, potash, or lime, &c.'? 



Potatoes. — In favorable situations potatoes are planted in March 

 and April, for an early crop, to supply the demand in New-York. 

 The same ground may be cleared in July, and succeeded by a crop 

 of ruta baga turneps. Late pijtatoes for a fall crop, are planted in 

 the beginning of June, before the first hoeing of corn. The most 

 esteemed varieties are the Mercers and the Kidney potatoes. The 

 former are the most productive of these two varieties, but the kid- 

 neys bring the highest market price. The Rohan potatoe has been 



