1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



433 



tions there, is no dnnij^or of the ciittiii<;s being kill- 

 ed; unless ir)dce(l I'min late plantinj>; in the spring, 

 or some other cause, the wooil of the cuttings h,is 

 not been i)ro[)erly ripened. In that case, all the 

 unripe wood will of course be killed by winter il 

 left on the tree, and it will be proper to take ihe 

 cuttings olT and bury them as above. 



Much has been said about making hedges of 

 the moras multicaulis. As a barrier against cat- 

 tle or other slock it will not do. Cattle are very 

 fond of it, and will eat the leaves and even 

 branches as large as the finger of the young 

 wood. It may be used as an omamenlal hedge, 

 however, and planted in hedjae form in fields, to 

 great advantage. The distance between the rows 

 or hedges in the latter case may be from 12 to 20 

 feet; the latter will admit the passage of a cart for 

 conveying leaves to the laboratory. 



In conclusion, I believe I have said every thing 

 that need be said on the subject of the mulberry, 

 its culture, &c. In the next number we shall dis- 

 cuss the rearing of'eilk-worms, the laboratory, &,c. 



STRICTURES 



AJfD REMARKS 

 ARTICLES. 



UyOJf FORMER 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Sept. 6th, 1838. 



As marvellous assertions, and alleged discove- 

 ries, if published in our agricultural papers, with- 

 out comment, may often lead the sanguine and in- 

 experienced of our brethren into serious errors, it 

 seems to me that they should always be noticed. 

 This remark has been suggested by two articles 

 in your highly usetut journal; one in the August 

 No. (p. 269), and dated Houston county, Geor- 

 gia, which you have copied from the 'Southern 

 Agriculturist.' The other in the Sept. No. copied 

 from the 'Watertown Standard,' a New York 

 paper, which appears to be editorial. The Geor- 

 gia planter, speaking of the treatment of their 

 negroes, says, (I jiive his own words,) "they 

 have their weekly allowance each, of three hundred 

 pounds of bacon, or -its equivalent, and as much 

 hominy or corn-flour as they can consume, ground 

 at the mills, delivered to them. When potatoes 

 and peas are in season, they are permitted to use 

 all they may want.'''' Now this must either have 

 been a great, but unnoticed slip of his pen, or he 

 must be a near relation of the celebrated Baron 

 Munchausen. Counting seven days to the week, 

 this allowance is just forty-two pounds and six- 

 sevenths per day, which, to say nothing of their 

 hominy, corn-flour, peas and potatoes, ought to 

 have enabled his negroes, instead of merely dou- 

 bling Mr, Frost's cotton crop of four thousand 

 pounds to the hand, as he stales they did, to have 

 made at least three hundred times as much. 



The second article which I beg leave to notice, 

 is published to prove the wonderful efliciency of 

 soaking seed-corn in a solution of saltpetre. 

 This, the editors pronounce to be "one of the 

 greatest discoveries of modern times in the ne- 

 glected science of agriculture.^^ On examination, 

 however, of this highly interesting assertion, we 

 find nothing whatever in their statement to sup- 

 port it, but merely their own belief produced by 

 one single inspection of an experiment made by a 

 Vol. VI.— 55 



Mr. Massej'^, who planted five rows of corn, the 

 seed of which had been previously soaked in a 

 solution o( saltpetre, (it is not said whether or 

 not it was a saturated solution,) while the adja- 

 cent rows had not been soaked. These dissemi- 

 nators of useful fids in husbandry proceed to af- 

 firm, without any ap])arent doubt in regard to Ihe 

 accuracy of their own judgment, that "the fiv« 

 rows planted with corn prepared with saltpetre, 

 will yield more than twenty-five rows planted with- 

 out the preparation.^'' That these gentlemen be- 

 lieved what they said to be true, I will not permit 

 myself to doubt; but before any general credence 

 can be given to such an assertion, a well authen- 

 ticated statement of actual measurement must be 

 exhibited. It certainly may be imagined as a 

 possible thing in this age of almost incredible in- 

 ventions; but a five-lbld increase of crop, from so 

 simjile and cheap a process, approaches too near 

 the miraculous, to be generally taken for any thing 

 more than the extravagant opinion of persons of 

 very little experience in such matters, and one, 

 therefore, but illy calculated to induce practical 

 corn-planters to repeat the experiment. 



A word or two now, as to what these gentlemen 

 call "one of the greatest discoveries of modern 

 times.'''' Almost from my earliest recollection, 

 and that reaches back more than half a century, I 

 have known the soaking of seed-corn in a solution 

 of saltpetre to be practised. Indeed, it was once 

 common in some parts of Virginia; but that was 

 at a time when I paid little attention to such mat- 

 ters, and therefore I do not recollect how far it 

 succeeded. The fact however is, that the practice 

 has long been discontinued among us, and conse- 

 quently it is a fair inference that the increase, if 

 any, of the corn crop by this process, could not 

 have been generally thought to be even double, 

 or we should still find the saltpetre solution in 

 general use. So much for this asserted discovery. 

 But since the constitutions of mankind ofien un- 

 dergo such changes, that food, which does little or 

 no good at one time, may fatten at another, the 

 same may happen to the constitution of plants. 

 Many still more extraordinary analogies have 

 been actually traced out, or imagined to exist be- 

 tween the animal and vegetable kingdoms. By 

 all ineans, therefore, let us all feed our seed-corn 

 next spring, with saltpetre and water, fjr it is not 

 quite impossible that we may equal or beat Mr. 

 Massey's five rows so marvellously fattened upon 

 that food. I, for one, am determined to try the 

 experiment should my life be spared; and you 

 shall have, not my opinion merely, but an accu- 

 rate statement of the quaniity, by measure, of the 

 corn fattened upon saltpetre and water, and that 

 which I shall leave to seek its food from the ordi- 

 nary sources of supply. In this determination I 

 assure you that I am perfectly serious, tor I have 

 been a corn-soaker for many years, in Hill faiih of 

 its efficacy to an extent which renders the practice 

 well worth continuing. My solution, however, 

 now very common in Virginia, has heretofore 

 been nothing more than tar and water, in the pro- 

 portion of about one pint of tar to ten or fifteen 

 gallons of water, after which the seed-corn has as 

 much plaster of Paris or lime mixed with it as 

 will adhere to each grain. This protects it, in a 

 considerable degree, from moles and birds, and 

 probably benefits the suijsequent growth and pro- 

 duct, although I knou- of no experiments yet 



