280 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



off the blades, at the time when most persons do 

 it, and as it is usually done. But as we are com- 

 pelled to have something of the kind (or our horses, 

 and as it is a very common belictj (which I much 

 doubt from small experiments of mine,) that we 

 cannot raise clover and foreign grasses in ihis state 

 lor hay, we are (breed to do that, that many of us 

 believe is an injury to our corn. 



For I he benefit of those not averse to passing 

 over their fields more than o/jce, (and this is an 

 objeciion with some of my neighbors,) I will state, 

 that of late I have been in the practice of going 

 over the whole of my corn crop twice, and very 

 often three ti7nes over parts of it, belbre the whole 

 of my blades were pulled. My orders to my hands 

 are not to take a blade from any stalk the ear on 

 which is not very perceptibly changed in color. 

 And even then, up to the ear only, unless its 

 external shuck is partly or quite dry, in which 

 Jatier case, all are to be taken from the stalk. In 

 this way 1 am confident I have done much less 

 injury to my corn than is done in the usual manner 

 of taking all belbre us. True it is, 1 have to pass 

 through my crop two or three times ; yet it is not 

 so unpleasant afier all, unless the corn is so sorry 

 that I might wish to keep altogether out of sight 

 of it. Besides, I get more and better Ibdder by so 

 doing; for if we wait till all the corn is ripe enough, 

 much of the fodder will have dried up and become 

 worihless. On the contrary, if we go to work too 

 soon, then the corn is the sufferer ; and most of the 

 earliest Ibdder in the last fields we reach will be 

 lost : the lime of taking it being prolonged by tak- 

 ing all belbre us. 



I have stated above I doubted the commonly re- 

 ceived opinion that we cannot raise foreign grass 

 in this state. Admit it to be true, however. If we 

 were to clear up the many worse than useless 

 branch and creek swamps, on most of our larms, 

 they would supply a much belter article of food in 

 the native grasses, than the best of our corn blades, 

 to say nothing about the worst. 



Baden corn. — I planted about two acres of Ba- 

 den corn last spring, and alihough I did not mea- 

 sure the product, it certainly yielded at least a 

 third more than any other variety in the same 

 field. The land was thin, and not manured since 

 1838, when it was in cotton. I have planted the 

 present year a field of il, selected from those stalks 

 having the most ears ; and of another variety (a 

 mixture of the Baldwin with the common flint, 

 having a very deep grain on a small cob, taken 

 from stalks having two or more ears,) in alternate 

 rows, in hopes of improving the grain of the Ba- 

 den corn, which is too short for tlie size of the cob, 

 and at the same time preserving its prolific cha- 

 racter. My seed was obtained from a gentleman 

 in Georgia, who had received the previous year a 

 part of a barrel, sent by the Hon. Jesse Cleveland, 

 jrom Washington city, to some of his constituents 

 in Ue Kalb county. 



jjpple and pear cuttings. — To such persons as 

 may li?el disposed to try the experiment, and be 

 humbugged, as I have been, by ihose that have 

 asserted, that apple and pear cuttings would 

 grow, if treated and planted as multicau'is cut- 

 tings, 1 would say. apply your labor to some 

 other occupation. Fur, out ol' one hundred, cut, 

 waxed and planted, secundum urlem, last spring, 

 not a single eye of eiilier succeeded. I had not 

 much faith, 1 must acknowledge ; for I had, some 



years since, tried sticking a cutting in an Irish po- 

 tato, and the result was, that the potato grew, but 

 the cutting died. 



3Iulticaulis. — I have planted, the present sea- 

 son, about tliree thousand muliicaulis cuttings, pre- 

 paratory to commencing the silk making business 

 on a small scaie, another year. Many of my friends 

 laugh at me, and say, "it is all iiumbuggery." 

 A Iriend of mine writes me Irom Georgia, " I 

 think, from your letters, that your symptoms of 

 silk lever are 'rather alarming.^ I am of the 

 opinion, however, that a lew doses of multicaulis, 

 worked ofi' with silk-worm eggs, will restore you 

 to health." Probably it may. friend B****; but I 

 very much regret I did not take the multicaulis 

 fever in 1S32, when G. B. Smith, esq., offered 

 to furnish twenty trees to any one wishing to pur- 

 chase, at one dollar per tree. (See American Far- 

 mer, p. 81.) Then, if I had taken the "fever," 

 and repeated the dose, it would certainly have 

 proved the grand panacea to my pecuniary healih. 

 It would have enabled me to contribute liberally, 

 which I should have done most cheerfully, to the 

 Smith Fund ; and thereby furnishing a solid to- 

 ken of respect, to one much deserving it. 



Deep ploughing. — I should have stated in its 

 proper place, that I am not opposed to deep break- 

 ing of fand ; on the contraiy, 1 care not how 

 deep the breaking is done, (even in the thinnest 

 soils,) provided the soil be kept on top,* and lor 

 that purpose, I once constructed a pioush with 

 two coulters, to run in rear of the mould-board, 

 and set as deep as I desired to break the subsoil, 

 without turning it up and mixing it with the soil ; 

 the plough at the same time turning to the lull depth 

 of the soil. It answered a very good purpose in old 

 land, that was clear ofroots and stones; but required 

 two strong horses to pull it, and laborious work for 

 the ploughman. In new and rough lands, it could 

 not be used to any advantage. It was conse- 

 quently laid aside ; and I now prefer, in thin soils, 

 running the broad point coulter in the same fiir- 

 row of a light, one-horse, turning plough, in 

 which way the subsoil may be well broken with- 

 oulturning it up, in any kind of land. 



In conclusion, sir, ill could write better, I would 

 write ofiener ; but my great desire to promote the 

 interest of that most useful, and much neglected 

 class of the community, the agriculturists, will, I 

 trust, be a sufficient apoloiry, for intruding my 

 bunglins production on yourself and your very- 

 respectable class of readers. It cannot be expect- 

 ed, I know, that every farmer should be an ele- 

 gant writer. And yet most of them may, in 

 some sort of way, communicate their views, and 

 the results of their experiments, so as to be under- 

 stood, and possibly benefit others. S. 



3I0DERIV IMPROVEMENTS IN EUROPE IN SILK- 

 CULTUKE. 



From tlie National Intelligencer. 



The introduction of improvements in the silk 

 culture will be much more readily eff'ected among 

 an educated and intelligent people, having no preju- 



* See Gideon B. Davis's Essay, American Farmer, 

 vol. xiii., p. 369. I once ruined a field by turning; 

 deep, according to the directions of Arator. 



