1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



SOB 



I will explain as well as I can my way of lay- 

 ing off land. I cotuinence at the top oi" the ridixes 

 and run ni}^ lines ol' level to the right and lel'i 

 down to the bottom ol' whidi I leave six or eight 

 leet unbroken, lor the water to run over to pre- 

 vent its being washed in a giilly. I run n line ol' 

 level every forty or filty leet, and in laying off my 

 rows, 1 run a furrow alternately from the line 

 above, and then I'rom the next one below, until I 

 meet in the middle, which divides the irregular 

 surlaceof the land, that may occur between the 

 lines of level, and prevent the water from being 

 carried th'', wroiiti; way. Whereas, if you com- 

 mence at one line, and continue on the same side 

 until you get to the next, you will, in many places, 

 increase the fall too much, and m others lose it 

 altogether, and carry the water the contrary way, 

 and defeat your object entirely. 



Some think that 1 do not give fall enough. 

 Steep land requires more tall, than land that is 

 moderately rolling. But it is not material, whe- 

 ther you give little more or less fall, so that you 

 be sure to give fall all the loay. In regulating 

 the width of my rows, I attach a measure to the 

 beam of the plough, just in fi-ont cf the share, 

 with a hinge, and tie a stick or switch IS inches 

 long to the end of it, which drags in the furrow 

 above; and when you get to the end, you can j 

 turn it over, thereby do away the necessity of 

 leading the horse with a pole attached to his 

 mouth. And it gives you the width of your rows 

 opposite the plough, where it should be. It is 

 necessary to fix pieces to the sides of the plough 

 for the measure to rest on, to prevent the end from 

 dragging the ground. If your field is properly 

 laid off in this way, there is no necessity for a hill- 

 side ditch or furrow. Except, where you have a 

 hillside in cultivation only a part of the way fi-om 

 the bottom, it is necessary to have a hillside ditch 

 to catch the water that collects above, to prevent it 

 from running over the cultivated land beloiv; and 

 when the ravine terminates on abranch fiat, I have 

 a horizontal ditch to prevent the water fiom run- 

 ning over the flat. 



Mr. Du Val seems to think the account given 

 as to the quantity of work done by the rakes rather 

 extravagant. Perhaps it may be; but it requires 

 some practice to use them to advantage, and some 

 attention at first of the overlooker, to make his 

 people keep up with the rake; or they will stand 

 and scratch in one place much longer than is ne- 

 cessary to do the work welh I raked over a field 

 of forty-five acres this spring, with three hands in 

 six days; and one of them was a boy of twelve 

 years old, and badly grown, and another a girl of 

 fourteen, and the other a free boy. Now, I doubt 

 ' whether nine men with hoes could have done it 

 1 in that time, and at that stage of the corn. 

 ' It is with pleasure that I communicate any 

 \\ thing I know about farming, and nothing would 

 gratify me more than to hear that any one had 

 been benefited by any thing that I have said on the 

 subject But my capacity tor writing is very lim- 

 ited, and I shall hold you responsible for any 

 blunders that I may make being in print, and 

 hope 3'ou will correct me where you see cause. 

 Yours, 



Respectfully, 



Thomas B. Gay. 



THE INJURY CAUSED HY FEEDING ON COKN 

 FROM NEW-GUOUND. 



To tlic Editor of tin; Farmers' Register. 



Jiakcr Cbuniy, Ga., June 25th, 1837. 



* * * * And here, perhaps I ought 

 to close my remarks. But as I am a young far- 

 mer, and wish to educate myself to agricultural 

 pursuits under your auspices, I shall make a fciw 

 remarks, which, at least, may call forth the know- 

 ledixe and ex|)erience of some "knowing one." 



When I removed my larming interest, (last fall) 

 from near Milledgevilie to this place, some of the 

 old settlers told me, if I could avoid it, not to pur- 

 chase new-ground corn, because it would certain- 

 ly kill horses, if fed on it constantly. Well, sir, I 

 immediately fell to work with what little know- 

 ledge I possessed of botany and chemistry to devise 

 a theory which would account tor the alarming fact. 

 But I was utterly unable to do so, and was a little 

 inclined to treat the matter as an erroneous opinion. 

 However, owing to the repeated solemn assertions 

 of some of my oldest neighbors, I bought up as 

 much old-ground corn as I could find convenient. 

 But owing to the Indian disturbances in this coun- 

 ty during the last summer, corn was scarce, and 

 I had finally to buy the greater part of the repro- 

 bated corn. We commenced in the spring with 

 fifteen or sixteeti horses and mules, and after serv- 

 ing a pretty good apprenticeship lo the art of vet- 

 erinary practice, we have lost nine horses and one 

 mule. 1 should, perhaps, have concluded that 

 there was something in the climate, uncongenial 

 to the health of the unacclimated horse; but a 

 great many others who had been living here for 

 years, were almost as unlucky as myseh", havinw 

 to teed on the same kind of corn. Such, sir, is 

 the case in detail. I have made inquiry about the 

 rearing and housing the corn, and I have come 

 to this conclusion, that the crop was planted late, 

 and the ears stript from the stalk before the corn was 

 thoroughlydry, inorderto have the advantage of an 

 earlypea pasture. It was then thrown, in large 

 bulks, into cribs, with the shuck on, and the con- 

 sequence was that the grains mildewed, and a 

 great many rotted. This' I think is the ostensible 

 cause of the deleterious effects upon horses; but 

 I am unable to investigate the chemical action, 

 by which it is probable a cure may be devised. 

 Our horses would shrink away to skin and bones, 

 and finally die, with every symptom of staggers. 

 The urinary organs seemed affected. Rest and 

 o-ood attention had no effect. We lost but one 

 nmie, (and that I think with colic.) Perhaps those 

 planters who cut their corn green, and cure it, may 

 be able to tell us something of the mattet-. 



JajIES a. WiGGlNS. 



[Our correspondent states a remarkable and impor- 

 tant fact, which we hope his communication may be 

 the means of causing; to be properly investigated, and 

 the remedy, or preventive means afforded. 



Though this injurious effect of the corn made on 

 newly cleared land is new to us, we have heard of 

 great mortality being produced among the horses on a 

 large farm in Virginia, by their being fed on the corn 

 damaged by too early housing, of the noted generally 

 immature crop of 1816. There were scarcely any of 

 us, in tower and middle Virginia, that year, who made 



