FARMERS' REGISTER 



629 



a course not uncommon. On the fallowed lands 

 they sow bean?, provided they have dunjx- Very 

 liltle clover, prelcrrinfr fenu^rcelc, which is suc- 

 ceeded by wheat. Vetches ihey sow in autumn, 

 and beans also, both (or a crop, and also to i)loi)ixli 

 in, in the sprinir, as a manure for hemp. Wiih 

 equal quaniiiics ol" manure, beans give belter 

 wheat than hemp. Beans on Sifj. Bis^nanii's 

 (arm, are now (November) six inches high on 

 the tops of narrow ridges, but none in the furrows; 

 tliese are for a crop, and infinitely too thick, I 

 should apprehend. Lupines also, (or ploughin<r in. 

 'J'uscANv. — In the Va'darno di Sura, Colini, 

 Sienisi, Fisani, Vollerrana, they fallow, and their 

 course is, — 1, fallow; 2, wheat. After travelling 

 60 long in Lnmbardy without a fallow, it hurt me 

 to find them common liere. Clover is usually 

 made a preparation for maize in most parts of 

 this country ; and beans, where sown, are reckon- 

 ed tlie best for wheat. At Martelli, &c. the course 

 is, — 1, beans, French beans, or maize ; 2, wheat ; 



3, wheal ; 4, wheat and rye, and no afier-crop. 

 In the V aldic'iiiana, the following course, I am in- 

 formed, is pursued, — 1, maize and French beans; 

 2, wheat, and nothing afierit ; 3, wheat and then 

 raves, — and, in some places, clover added. At Vil- 

 lama^na, the course is, — 1, blade, vetc hes, beans, 

 &c.; 2. wheat; 3, wheat; 4, wheal. The first wheat 

 produces nine or ten times the seed, ifafier beans; 

 the second six or seven ; the third three or four : 

 — a degradation that ought to explain fully the 

 absurdity of such a sys;em. In some districts the 

 following is the course, — first year, biadi, viz. 

 beans, pease, chick-pease, French beans, tares, 

 lentils, oats, maize, the great millet, small millet, 

 panic in part, clover and oats, and after cutlinij 

 jbr forage, plough lor some of the above. Second 

 year, upon the land thus prepared, wheal is sown, 

 called grosso and arislata mucked ; or with hall 

 grosso and half gentili (while wheat). Third 

 year, gentili wheat. 



MoDENA. — The bad farmers in the JMcdenes^ 

 are fallowists, and their course is, — 1, fallow, 

 ploughed first in May or June, in August the 

 second lime, and the third in October, (or sowing, 

 2, wheat. But the better farms substitute beans, 

 French beans, vetches, spelt, maize, particularly 

 the last instead of a fallow. Upon soils that are 

 very good, and manured, they have an execrable 

 custom of taking three crops of wheat in succes- 

 sion ; sometimes throwing in clover with the 

 wheat, which is ploughed up in June for wheat 

 again. When beans are sown in autumn, and 

 stand the frost, they yield much more ihan spring 

 sown. 



The husbandry practised by Sig. Bertolini, 

 which is the best of the conntry, is, — 1. beans, 

 sown in October, and harvested in May: then 

 French beans, or fbrmenloni, lor forage, or chick- 

 pease, or lentils; 2, wheat, the stubble ploughed 

 thrice for, 3, wheat; 4, maize, sown in March. 

 To Reggio they fallow some of their land every 

 third year ; but more commonly substitute maize, 

 beans, or something else in lieu. 



Parma — In the country about Vicomero, the 

 common course is, — 1, beans; 2, wheat; 3, maize; 



4, wheat. 



Piedmont. — Tortonese. — A common course 

 here, is, — 1, beans; 2, wheat. Also, — 1, melga, 

 (great millet) ; 2, wheat. But they have some 

 jauds in fallow courses. 



Savoy. — At Lanesbourg, the common hus- 

 bamlry is that of a crop and a fallow : they 

 plough in May or June, and again for the seeil in 

 August, when they sow the rye ; and they have 

 no wheat. 



From these notes it appears, that there is sonie- 

 ihing both to commend and to condemn in these, 

 Italian courses. The rejeciion of fallows is pretty 

 general ; this ia a good feature, and the great 

 stress they lay on beans, as a preparation for 

 wheat, cannot le praised too much. On the 

 other hand, there seems to be no idea of so propor- 

 tioning the crops of a ("arm, as to make cattle and 

 sheep (kept on arable land) the preparation for 

 corn: the culture of clover is not unknown, but 

 scarcely extends further than to produce some hay. 

 I no where met with artificial grasses introduced 

 on so large a scale as to support a good f^ock of 

 sheep. In some districts, the great plenty of wa- 

 tered meadow explains this deficiency ; but there 

 are more where it will not afford an apology. 

 This objection, however, does not hold ffood in 

 the Lodizan, where their immense dairies are 

 supported on arable land, and certainly form one of 

 the most curious systems of husbandry that are to 

 be met with in Europe. 



AN EFFECTUAt. MODE OF FRIGHTENING 

 CROWS FROM CORN-FIELDS. 



For the Farmers* Register. 



During my residence in ihe western part of 

 Louisiana, which is much infested by black birds, 

 and crows, I frequently observed a while cotton 

 thread suspended from the top of one cane (or 

 large reed) to the lop of others throughout the 

 length of their corn fields. I inquired the use of 

 it, and was answered that it scared the crows or 

 black birds, I do not recollect which, but ain of 

 opinion it scared both. Since my return to Vir- 

 ginia, I have settled on a small farm in Chester- 

 field county. Three sides of my field are enclosed 

 by pine woods, the most choice abode of crows. 

 Immediately after planting my corn, I tried the ex- 

 periment. I procured small pine poles, 15 or 16 

 leet in length ; set them in my corn-field, 50 or 60 

 yards apart lengthwise the field as it was long and 

 narrow ; then stretched the cotton twine from the 

 top of one pole to the top of another, throughout 

 the field; and found that my corn was protected 

 from 40 to 50 yards on each side of the twine so 

 suspended. The next season my field being in 

 form an obtuse angled triangle, and would require 

 a number of threads stretched parallel through the 

 field on account of its form, and by way of saving 

 labor and thread, as well as for experiment, 1 

 stretched the thread around the field, or set the 

 poles on the outer edge of the corn-field, say 

 about ten or fifteen yards (rom the (ence, which 

 protected the corn entirely from crows. The pre- 

 sent year I enclosed or stretched the thread 

 around thirty acres of corn, say with two pounds 

 of cotton twine, at 31^ cents per pound, and am 

 well satisfied that I did not lose one hill of corn by 

 crows. 



It is my positive belief that if a field of any 

 magnitude was enclosed by the thread (unless a 

 crow on entering the field should fly so high as 

 not to observe the thread,) there never would b<j 



