no 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 2 



taking money out his own cliest, was tiie reason 

 it was becoming daily fuller and fuller. In all 

 three cases, the true cause of improvement may 

 be found in the fact, that the addita greatly exceed 

 the abstracta. I am tiieoretically and practically 

 a grazier myself, and keep a large stock; but the 

 idea of improving land by mere grazing, is one 

 that I had never dreamed of. I am improving 

 my own land, not by grazinir, but in spite of it. 



In relation to hill-side dilching, which I believe 

 "Contributes more lo the value of land than any 

 other improvement which can possibly be made at 

 the same expense, your correspondent alluded 

 to above, is in my opinion mucli more Ibrtunate. 

 He thinks the ditches have not usually sufficient 

 fall. I think the fall ought to be three times as 

 much as it usually is. Those which I have made 

 have at least double as much as any I have ever 

 seen; yet I intend to give those I may make in fu- 

 ture, still more. The more fall ihey have, the less 

 is the necessity of having them wide or deep, and 

 •of course the less labor is required to make them. 

 Should they exhibit a disposition to wash too deep, 

 a few stones, blocks of wood, brush, or almost 

 any thing not light enough lo be carried off by the 

 water thrown into the ditches, in heaps about a 

 hundred yards apart, will efi'ectually prevent far- 

 ther washing. As far as my observation extends, 

 i have seen many fill up, but not one wash into a 

 gully. W. O. Gregory. 



AUVANTAGES OF PLANTING CORN EARLY, 

 AND COVERING THE SEED DEEPLY. 



To tlie Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



fVatkiiisville, Clarke Counly, Ga. 



Nearly a year ago, I received by mail a num- 

 ber of the Farmers' Register. An African king 

 •once inquired if his name made much noise in Eu- 

 rope. With something of this self-importance, I 

 supposed you had somehow heard of iny love ibr 

 agriculture, and all things connected with it, and 

 had done me the favor to put me down as a sub- 

 scriber. I was much pleased with the number 

 sent, and expected to continue to receive them; 

 but as no more came, I read over the one I had 

 the oftener. The cause of no more coming, I 

 never knew till a few days ago. I was showing 

 some of my little ones how to paint a copy of the 

 farm-house on the first page of the cover, and 

 happened to notice, for the first time, that you had 

 written that this number was a present. For this 

 civility receive my best Sunday thanks; but truly, 

 I regret it was so nearly rubbed out that I never 

 noticed it before; for [ have lost many hours of 

 pleasant amusement for want of the other num- 

 bers. I now send you ten dollars. I cannot con- 

 sent to lose so much of a good thinfj; so I want 

 you to send me the back numbers lor the last vol- 

 ume, as well as the current volume. And now I 

 will send you some lines to read; perhaps you may 

 not think them of any value; if so, the fire will 

 soon put them out of the way. 



It is a very common opinion, that early planted 

 ■corn should be covered very shallow. It would 

 be difficult to calculate the annual loss that this er- 

 ror causes. In our state, very early corn wili 

 generally produce fully one-third more than late 

 corn. Late corn is generally between two and 



three feet taller than very early corn; the ear is 

 always higher on the stalk; and whoever will take 

 the trouble to plant rows of corn, late and early, by 

 side of each other, will find the late ears fully one- 

 third smaller than the early. Again — late corn is 

 always more injured by worms, moles, birds, &c.; 

 it requires much more replanting; and the replant- 

 ed corn makes very liule, oilen nothing. Early 

 planted corn always makes a better stand, and 

 the replanted makes good corn. Early corn is 

 made before the loniiest and hottest days come, 

 and before the dry weather sets in; consequently, 

 it will bear being nmch thicker, without firing 

 (burning). In planting a crop, we can get such 

 a forward start, that much more ground can be, 

 tended. Corn manured with unrotted manure, 

 more especiall)^, should be planted very forward; 

 fbrj when planted late, if a drought comes on it, 

 the manure often does more harm than good, as 

 it is so apt to burn up the corn. The result of my 

 experience, and I speak practically on it, amounts 

 to about this: that corn planted the first of March, 

 generally produces one-third more, and with one 

 working less, than corn planted the first of May. 

 Let whoever doubts this, take the trouble to plant 

 a field in alternate rows, giving two months be- 

 tween the times of planting; or plant one acre very 

 forward, and another acre, by the side of it, very 

 late; and I ain satisfied he will decide with me. 

 In fact, by rough measurement, I have made the 

 difference greater than what I have named. 

 When I speak of forward corn, I want some data 

 to go by, so that my meaning may be understood. 

 I will try to explain myselfj by stating thai, in my 

 neighborhood, corn planted the last week in March 

 and first week in April, is considered forward; 

 when I speak of plantint^' forward, I mean the last 

 week in February and first week in March. 



And now with respect to the covering. Who- 

 ever plants corn very forward, and covers shallow, 

 will regret it; for he will have a poor stand of 

 weakly looking corn. The common opinion is, 

 that shallow corn is acted upon and warmed by 

 the sun, which causes it to sprout; will not a little 

 refiection convince any person, that if the sun 

 does cause it to sprout, that the ground when it 

 freezes as deep as the corn, (which it will do every 

 hard frost,) would kill the roots of the corn, and if 

 not killed, be so much sickened, that its recovery 

 would be slow? This will explain why early corn, 

 covered shallow, is so apt to be killed by frost, if 

 it does not sprout. But experience fully decides, 

 that when shallow-covered, if the sun warms it in 

 the day, the fi-ost chills it at night; and most of it 

 rots, without ever sprouting; but cover the corn 

 deep, very deep, and it will come up prime. If 

 the frost does bite, no injury is done; and we insure 

 the best kind of a stand. This I know by expe- 

 rience to be correct. My corn has been several 

 times covered deep with snow; and yet the more 

 forward Ihe corn, the better the stand, and the 

 better the crop. But let us reason on it. Why is 

 spring-water warm in the coldest weather, but 

 because the earth is warmer as we go deeper, 

 and colder as we approach its surface? This liict 

 is fully established by making holes of different 

 depths, and testing the temperature with a ther- 

 mometer. In cold weather, make a hole in the 

 ground, and put the hand in it, and it will be found 

 warm. The fiict that the earth is warmer in win- 

 ter a fool deep, than it is an inch deep, every body 



