FARMERS' REGISTER 



739 



advancing this end, so as greatly to diminish the 

 expense. It entirely answers the end ol fodder or 

 hay in the fall season, in fattening cattle and sheep, 

 and enables the f'nrnier to spare his slock of both ; 

 a circumstance iiighly beneficial to one who does 

 not abound in those articles, by enablini; liim to 

 feed his learns better, and to save a sufficiency to 

 allow them enough, from ttie failure of the clover, 

 until the new crop of liay or fodder conies in. 

 Perha[)s no circumstance has conlridu'ed more to 

 the impoverishment of several of llie United States, 

 than the negligence to provide dry fiarage for sum- 

 mer, producing the evils of" a loss of labor, of 

 vveakeiiiufj the teams, and of" ruinous grazmi';. 

 The pumpkin, with the daily addition of a few 

 corn stalks thrown into the pens, is preferable to 

 the best hay or fodder I ever tried ; and it appears 

 to me to be much less of an impoverisher than the 

 potato ; arising, I suppose, from its entirely cover- 

 ing the ground about the last of June, if properly 

 cultivated. 



My mode of cultivating it is this. I select the 

 intended number of acres in the proposed corn 

 field of the ensuing year, where the land is infest- 

 ed with some plant, proposed to be destroyed by 

 culture for two successive years, and by the im- 

 penetrable shade of" the pumpkin vine during the 

 firsi. In tlie winter the ridges are cleaned by 

 four furrows run as deep as lour horses can man- 

 age a large plough, throwing one moiety of each 

 into the old water furrow ; and I make a new wa- 

 ter furrow wide and deep where the centre of the 

 ridge lay. In the latter end of March, as much 

 manure as will make the land rich is spread on, 

 and the ridges are restored by similar four furrows 

 to their first position, agreein*! with that of those 

 for the ensuing year's corn field. If the land is 

 stifl', a second ploujjhing with a small ploush may 

 be necessary to pulverize it. The pumpkins are 

 planted in the mode ol" planting corn, at five feet 

 and a half distance in the direction of the ridges, 

 and two leet nine inches acrocs them. They re- 

 ceive one deep ploughing, the ridges are raised 

 high and the water furrows made deep and wide; 

 the plants whilst tender are defended against a 

 email bug; and the ground is kept clean until the 

 vines begin to overspread it. One plant only is 

 left in a place. 



The custom of sprinkling pumjikine over corn 

 fields, scatters the crop so, that the labor of its col- 

 lection exceeds its value. By giving them more 

 room, the fruit will be larger, but the product less. 

 As soon as they begin to ripen, their use should 

 commence near their residence, to save the labor 

 of a distant removal. In this use they may be 

 made considerably subservient to manuring, by 

 penning the animals lied on them. The remnant 

 must be gathered before frost, and deposited about 

 three feet high in a stack made of corn tops in the 

 common form, convenient to the pumpkins, open 

 at both ends, and their use rapidly continued to 

 avoid risk. 



Indian corn, dry or boiled alternately, is the best 

 food to be united with the pumpkins which 1 have 

 tried. The pumpkins are fed raw, chopped by 

 broad hatchets in troughs, and eaten ravenously. 

 They produce a great saving of grain, and an en- 

 tire saving of dry forage, a considerable addition 

 to the meat, milk, and butler, and some increase 

 of manure. 



LEGUMIKOUS CROPS. 



Indian corn must he recognised as the prince of 

 this limiily, if it belongs to it. No individual of 

 the whole tribe can compare with it for meal, 

 malt, fodder, and litter. In England, where sun- 

 dry of its cognominal relatives arc highly celebrat- 

 ed as fallow crops, their chief merit consists in 

 preparing the ground lor wheat, or lor some other 

 culmiferous crop. It was never imagined, that 

 the least competition as to value existed between 

 the fiillow crop and its successor; and the great 

 doubt has been, whether a naked fallow or a fal- 

 low crop ought to be preleired. Young decides 

 for the latter, on account of the profit resulting 

 from the succulents or legumes used as fallow 

 crops there ; and his arguments ars tripled in 

 weight, by the triple value of Indian corn used as 

 a fallow crop here. 



It results ihal I reject the succulents and le- 

 gumes resorted to in England as lallovv crops, 

 and prefer the maize for that purpose; wherefore, 

 in the previous chapter, the first have not been 

 considered in that character, nor will the latter be 

 so in this. 



But I shall advert to legumes as a valuable food 

 for man, not sufficiently attended to, whilst I ad- 

 mit that in every other view, including the dan- 

 ger of" destruction from accident, they are inferior 

 to maize; and that even in this, they are rather 

 to be considered as its coacijulor than rival. 



Among them, the pea is selected as covering 

 most individuals, and most fitted to our climate. 

 Four gallons of dry peas annually, will add in- 

 conceivably to the health, strength and comfort 

 of a laborer, if prepared by good boiling with salt 

 meat of any kind. The ruinous state ol our coun- 

 try afi'ords but too much space to raise peas with- 

 out much expense of skill or labor. In the shifts 

 of most of our farms there is no scarcity of poor 

 land. Such ought never to be sown with wheat 

 or any other culmiferous grain, because they will 

 produce no profit, and because severe exhausters 

 as they are must be excluded from land already 

 exhausted, under any system of agriculture which, 

 meditates its improvement. A portion of such 

 land may be selected, sufficient to produce lour 

 gallons of dry peas lor each resident on the 

 liarm of all ages, exclusive of what they may 

 gather and use at their will in a green stale, to 

 be planted among corn at the distance of five 

 feet and a half square, the distance also of the 

 corn. Of this, one stalk only is left in each hill. 

 The ground is ridged, ploughed but one way, and 

 both crops are planted in the direction of the ridges. 

 It remains without producing any other crop (these 

 two excepted growing together) inclosed, ungraz- 

 ed, in deep furrows and high ridges running norili 

 and south, until the revolution of the course of 

 culture, which consists of four years, is completed ; 

 and is very much improved. It is more so if aided 

 by a bushel of gypsum to the acre. This poor 

 land thus treated, is rendered more productive 

 than as usually managed, and the object of its 

 improvement is accelerated by such a culture be- 

 yond what would be obtained by a state of perfect 

 idleness. 



If circumstances prevent this course, the peas 

 are raised in the same mode with pumpkins on a 

 portion of" the intended corn field of the following 

 year, where noxious plants are to be eradicated, 



