183S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



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benefit; since I led niyseirMicap;\lile orgiviniieven 

 a useful hint lo tliose whn seetn tliorouiihly con- 

 vinced that they have nolhiiiij; rnoie to learn on 

 this subject. But the loivixoinj; sUiTirestions are 

 ofi'ered ui the hope ol" reiiilerinii some service to 

 the youiii^er portion of our oorn-planler.-^, by in- 

 ducinir I hem to umiertake a series of accurate com- 

 [laralive trials, on a small scale, of ihe dilferent 

 miujes of cujiivaiiii^ corn, in the same soil; ibr il 

 is by such means alone, that we can ever ascer- 

 tain the best. A man in perfect health is a (()oJ 

 for uoiniT to il doctor to make him better; but any 

 one in our profession is a much greater lool ever 

 to persuade himsell" that he has attained perlec- 

 tiou in any one branch of husbaiiiliy. Constandy, 

 therefore, to strive at im|)rovement, should be both 

 our principle and practice, Ibr it is the only way to 

 ol)tain it. This keeps our minds as continually 

 active as they could be in an\' other occupation, 

 and relieves them from that tedious sameness too 

 generally supposed lo be inseparable from agricul- 

 ral life. All we have to guard against is, not to 

 let experiment-making become our chief busi- 

 ness — in other words, not to pay too much for 

 our lohistles • as we did during tiie epidemic for 

 buying the merino sheep; and as we seem now in 

 some danger of doing m regard to imported cat- 

 tle. The first nught be called a ram-fevei — the 

 latter, abull-fevcr; hut we are certainly fast im- 

 proving in these liiucies, since we now procure for 

 about the same money per head, two or three 

 thousand times as much English beef, as we Ibr- 

 nierly did Spanish mutton. 



Another of my experiments with corn has been, 

 to ascertain the difference, if any, between that 

 of which the entire stalks were cut up and secured 

 in small piles, having about sixty stalks m each, 

 and corn from which the blade-lbdder was strlppet' 

 at the same time, and the tops cut in lew days after, 

 This was done about the middle of September, 

 anil the comparison made in two difit;rent parts o( 

 my field, about a quarter of a mile apart; but in each 

 case it was between the cut-up corn, and that taken 

 fi'om standing rows, immediately contiguous. 1 

 made no measurement, of the quantity of either, 

 but compared oidy the weights, believing that 

 the heaviest would prove, in all probability, the 

 most productive, as both were of the satne kind. 

 The compiirison was made about six weeks after 

 the corn was cut up, and first with the largest piles 

 — the grain from which weighed two pounds in 

 the bushel less than the other taken from llie corn 

 then standing; although one appeared as well ma- 

 tured as the other. On the quality of the Ibdder, I 

 took the opinton of my negroes, who, not knowing 

 why I questioned them, were impartial judires 

 They pronoimced it better than the stacked fod- 

 der, on the inside of the piles, and not much hurt 

 on the outside; but I must mention that only one 

 rain had fallen on it in six weeks. The corn from 

 a small pile in the other part of my field, weighed 

 1^ lbs. per bushel less than the other, and the 

 fodder was nearly ruined ; but that was caused 

 by the pile having fallen down unperceived, and 

 being exposed a day or two. 



The results of this experiment are so different 

 from several others reported in our agricultural 

 papers, as to force me to cenclude, that there must 

 have been very great inaccuracy and error in ma- 

 ny, if not in all of them. I will not except my 

 own, and shall, therefore, repeat it with more care. 



One of these experiments reported in the fourth 

 volinne of the 'American Farmer,' as havmg been 

 made by a Mr. Charles Woodson of Virginia, 

 Slates lliat the grain aloite of the cut up corn weigh- 

 ed more, ('tis not said how much more,) than the 

 grain and f^)dder put together, of that which had 

 lieen nianageii in the common way — making a 

 dtltTcnce in liivor of the former, of something 

 more than the entire labor of securing the blades 

 and tops of the other. This ousht to settle the 

 i (luestion firever, supposing Mr. Woodson's expe- 

 riment ;o be perlectly correct; Ibr the common 

 calculation is, that in ordinary seasons the propor- 

 tion of blade-fiodder to corn, is only about one 

 thousand weight to every twenty barrels. But 

 this experiment is so remarkable — so contrar}^© 

 all previous opinion on the subject, as to be well 

 worth repeating by every corn-maker in the state. 

 I have dwelt more on the subject of Indian 

 corn than I should have done, had it not been for 

 its daily increasing importance since the general 

 failure (esj)ecially in Virg!nia,J of so many suc- 

 cessive wheat crops. But I shall quit it Ibnhe 

 present with only a lew additional remarks in op- 

 position to the prevalent opinion that corn ex- 

 hausts land more than wheat. 



All crops diminish the fertility of soil, if either 

 the whole or the greater part be taken off; so say 

 numerous old and observant agriculturists whom 

 I have consulted; so says my own experience. 

 The term ^•ainelioratirig cro/)s" is, theretbre, a 

 perversion of language, unless when applied to 

 such as are returned lo the land, either wholly or 

 cliiefly. That they diHer materially in their dete- 

 riorating effects, is certain; but this difference can- 

 not, 1 think, be explained, (if indeed it be ex- 

 plainable at all,) by any abstract reasoning, flow- 

 ever scieniific; for there is much in regard to the 

 kind and quantity of food necessary to the perfec- 

 tion of each species of plants, that still remain?, 

 and probably will (brever remain, among the mys- 

 teries of nature. 



Opinion, therefore, founded upon frequent, fair 

 and accurate comparative trials, made by credible 

 persons, is the only standard by which we can 

 test ihe confficting creeds on this subject. Let ua 

 then compr.re the evidence for and against corn 

 being a greater exhauster than wheat. The af- 

 firmative have nothinrr, as far as I have ever 

 heard, to support their belief, but mere hypotheti- 

 cal reasoning, or the old closure of all arguments, 

 " I think so, because I think so," The negatives, 

 among whom you must rank me, can addl^jce nu- 

 merous cases of corn having f)een cultivated on 

 the same land f om ten to twenty years, without 

 intermission, (a. practice by the way highly cen- 

 surable, J without manure, and withour a greater 

 apparent diminution of the product and fertility of 

 the land, than they have witnessed where only 

 two or three crops of wheat had been taken im- 

 mediately after each other, from the same ground, 

 although the seasons were as nearly sinnlar, in 

 every respect, as could well be remembered. One 

 instance of the kind occurred in my own farm 

 some years ago, where two crops of wheat were 

 made m two years from the saaie land, made too 

 before I had foimed any opinion on the subject, 

 and in the hone that the practice might succeed 

 very well. My disappointment was very great; 

 for I have never seen such impoverishment pro- 

 duced in the same time, by any crop except tur- 



