4S2 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



flngeliation, nothing of ihe kind nor any thing like j the trees in healih, promotes tlieir longevity, pro- 

 ihem in ''the secref" By the way, we must in- ! moles the growth of the fruit to almost double its 

 vent a name for it, for it will make a noise in the i size, and greatly increases the richness of its 

 world yet. flavor. 



For the Farmers' Reaister. 

 LOSS CAUSED BY STRIPPING CORX FODDIiR. 



In yournumberfor August, you recommendedto 

 the farmers, who had not f^aiii^fied themselves of 

 the mischief done by slritipiriir Indian corn of its 

 green leaves, to test it by experinjent. This I 

 have heretofore done, and have no doubt upon the 

 eubject. I now gather only a lew blades, which I 

 find useful as a change ol" fijod (or my horses. 1 

 have, fiom some observation, formed the opinion, 

 that where corn has an early vigorous growth, in 

 a propiiious season, that the injury done by strip- 

 ping, is not so serious; but retarded in its growth, 

 by a cool summer, or a dry season, I believe that 

 more loss is sustained ihan would pay the taxes 

 in I^Iarviand. I was from home, from the last of 

 July, till the tenth of Septen)her, in upjier Virginia, 

 and 1 never before e.xperienced the weather so 

 warm in the mountain region. I learnetl, wiih sur- 

 prise, upon my return, there had been a | revalence 

 of easterly winds, and an unusual cool season 

 here. I ibund, in my neighborhood, stripping the 

 corn in active |iro<jress, and by consequence, the 

 shuck and the stalk soon iiecame brown and d/y ; 

 the tops and blades of tnine. which were permitted 

 to stand, retained some verdure, till the occurrence 

 of a sharp frost, on the 14ih of this monih ; they 

 are now dry, but the sialk is stiil green in a ilegree, 

 which manifests a continuance of circulation, and 

 I apprehend will contribute to the maiuration of 

 the ear. The evidence against my system is, that 

 no one has ado[)ted it. It is hard to part with old 

 habits; vvhen I was vounir, I knew an aged 

 farmer who recollected the introduct'on of the 

 wheat fan ; and he told me that its progress was 

 bIow. 



I sow no wheat in my corn fields, and my horses, 

 cattle, and sheep, after the corn is ualhered, find 

 in them ample provision till January. Many 

 farmers are deterred from the fallow system, from 

 the apprehension of its cost and expense. I be- 

 lieve if the profit, cost, and labor, were accurately 

 estimated, it would be in fiivor of the fallow. 

 My corn fields receive their lijll cultivation before 

 harvest, as I find the time which I formerly de- 

 voted to gathering fodder, more usefully employed 

 in marling and manuring my fallow. Formerly, 

 in a hot season, when the grass had taken posses- 

 sion of my corn fields, I have been engaged thirty 

 days in sowing wheat. I can now accomplish it 

 in ten, and can select the most favorable time, 

 and the loss sustained by treading down the corn, 

 would, in sowing wheat, form no inconsiderable 

 item in the account of profit and loss. 



Queen Jim's County, Md. I9ih Oct. 1S37. 



From Ihe New Jersey Banner. 

 MARL FOR PEACH TREES. 



A eubscriber informs us, and wishes the fact 

 nnnde public, that marl, put roimd the trunks of 

 peach trees, a bushel and a half to each tree, 

 protecistbem firom the attacks of worms, preserves 



From ttie Riclimond Enquirer. 

 PRODUCT OF SPRING WHEAT. 



To the Editor. Bremo, Sept. 4, 1837. 



< bservinir several notices in the 'Enquirer' of 

 experiments with the Italian (Florence) spring 

 wheat, I send you the results of the seeding of 

 several parcels, under dilierent circumstances, by 

 which the agricultural community mayjudixeof 

 the value of this new species of the most valuable 

 of our grain crops. 



From three bushels of this wheat, after tobacco, 

 upon James River boitom, one-half of the quanUty 

 sown in December, and the other half the first 

 week' in March, I have thrashed and measiu'ed 

 forty bushels of merchantable wheat. The quality 

 of tfie grain is inferior to that sown. 



From eight bushels of the same, sown on ihin 

 high Ian I, I got only twenty-seven bushels. This 

 parcel was seeded in the latter part of February. 

 Of the seedinij' on the bottonj land, the produce of 

 (hat sown in December was Itetter than that in 

 March — this latter beinir injured somewhat by the 

 rust, which the other escaped. 



John H. Cocke. 



From the Journal of Science and .^rts. 

 ROTTING OF TIMBER IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. 



In the year ]801, I built a ware-house on my 

 lot in Union street in Seheneciady. The cellar 

 was dug about fliur fJ^et deep, and the stone wall a 

 foot or two deeper. 1 left no opening in the walls 

 for door or window. The floor beams were of 

 excellent pitch pine timber, of twelve by twelve 

 inches, slit, and were six by twelve inches when 

 placed in the wall, and about eighteen inches 

 above the ground. 1 laid a floor of three inch oak 

 plank, loose, neither jointed nor nailed, alihouuh 

 they were square-edire, and lay close to each 

 other. Five years thereafter, 1 observed a jostling 

 in a place in the floor, and raised one ofthe planks 

 to learn the cause, and found one of ihe six by 

 twelve inch beams rotted oft' and fallen on the 

 bottom ofthe cellar. The f)lank was rotten below, 

 except about an inch sound on the upper side. I 

 lifted the whole floor, ibund most of the planks 

 rotten, except a shell on the top ; and the timbers 

 were rotten, and so decayed, that I took them 

 out and put in oak, after making windows and 

 a door in opposite sides of the wall. I thouszht 

 the depth of the cellar would have prevented in- 

 jury to the timber, hut found it the cause of the 

 destruction, as fine shavings and slivers lying on 

 the Itottom. of the cellar, were perfectly sound, 

 while the timbers, were beautifully ornamenled 

 with curtains of white mould, hanging in festoons, 

 nearly to the depth ofthe cellar, as white as snow, 

 very thick, and appeared like bleached muslin. 



In the year 1817, I took down an old kitchen on 

 the same lot. The floor had lain on saplings of 

 about 6 by 8 inches, such as are used for scaflbld 

 poles. They were bedded in the ground, so that 

 the pine fioor came next the ground, and excluded 

 air. They had lain there from 1794, and both the 



