14'2 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



bushels of seed from Frederick county in this 

 state, and the result was unilbrmiy a great yield 

 the first and second years, and a very good yield 

 the third; after which Ids crops Crom the same 

 seed rapidly deteriorated. Out oC a number of 

 experimenle, the on!j^ failure he susiained was 

 in the lasi trial he made ; to wit, in 1841. He 

 represented the wheat as ripening very laie, and 

 being attacked by the rust. But I have t^hown 

 that late wheat has no chance to come lo per- 

 fection, especially during such a season as the 

 last; — the influence of clintaie being then Cully 

 sufficient to counteract the action of other causes, 

 how liivorable soever ihey may be. 



I am aware that the editor of the Farmers' 

 Register considered the results of (he above men- 

 tioned experimenle as in conflict with Dr. Bronn's 

 principles. Biv the application I have attempted 

 to make will, I hope, satisfy him that ihey are in 

 perfect harmony with them. We assume that 

 the seed was obtained from a soil well adapted to 

 its developement, and transferred to another soil 

 less favorably constituted. And so far as the 

 influence of climate was concerned, the change 

 was likewise to one of a less genial character. 

 It follows then of necessity, that the result could 

 not have been otherwise than comparatively fa- 

 vorable, provided there was no extraneous cause 

 to produce disaster. 



it has been thought by many persons that old 

 wheat was better (or seed than new. It is a well 

 known fact that many species of plants grow 

 with less vigor from old seeds. The chief value, 

 if value there be, may therefore con?ist, in the 

 case of wheat, in the diminished tendency to 

 make straw, and in the greater tendency to produce 

 grain. This point can be well observed and the 

 comparative result reported by E. KufHn, Jr., who 

 has detailed a series of interesting experiments 

 in the last number of the Register, some of which, 

 and this amongst the rest, are yet in progress. 

 It would also be gratifying to many readers to 

 be informed "whether the old wh^at suffers as 

 much from the depredations of the H'-ssian fly. 



After all, however, the only effectual and per- 

 manent remedy for the disasters which have be- 

 fallen the wheat crop, is to improve the land ; to 

 impart to it those constituents of a good soil in 

 which it is obviously deficient. A'l other means 

 are mere aids and expedients, valuable as far as 

 they go, but of temporary duration. T. S. P. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE CORK CROP. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' I?cgistcr. 



Chericoke, March ISlh, 1842. 

 When we were last together, you expressed 

 a wish, that 1 would furnish (or publication in the 

 Register, my method of cultivating the corn crop. 

 This, as you wish it, I have no hesitancy in doing, 

 and the more readily, as I consider all tide-water 

 farmers labor under a debt of arralitude to you, for 

 your " Essay on Calcareous Manures," and I may 

 add, for the ardent, and zealous labors of a well 

 spent life, so far as it has gone, in behalf of agri- 

 culture, which do all they can, they can never 

 repay. In saying tide-water farmers, I do not 

 at all mean _lhat no other part of the state or 



country has been benefited by your labors, as I 

 believe all have, or could have been, had they 

 chosen to profit by the precepts you have 

 so long and so ably inculcated, whether it is east, 

 or west, north, or south ; for the same great truths 

 and principles that are applicable to our section 

 I of country, as to the improvement of soils, under 

 the same circumstances must be applicable to 

 another, and indeed to all ; for the first thing, and 

 the greatest desideratum with all intelligent and 

 judicious farmers, I presume rflust be, if it is pos- 

 sible to njake tjieir lands rich, or if rich, to keep 

 ihem so ; for it is only by rich lands that a farmer 

 can make or keep himself rich. The first thing 

 then I should think a judicious man would do. in 

 taking possession ofan estate, il it wassterile, would 

 be to inquire into and ascertain the cause of its ste- 

 rility, and if possible to correct it; and if on the other 

 hand he found his lands already fertile, that very 

 rare occurrence in lower Virginia, it would be 

 equally prudent in him to ascertain its true charac- 

 ter, and the way in which this fertility could be 

 maintained. And now (having had a pioneer to 

 go before to point out all these things to us, 

 to enable us to do, what without the aid of science 

 never could have been 'done, viz. : to make a 

 naturally poor sod rich, and to point out to us, too, 

 that where we most needed the fructifying princi- 

 ple, we had it in most abundance,) I again ask 

 the question, is not he that has done so much for 

 us, deserving of all the praise, and all the grati- 

 tude we can give? I trust, sir, you will pardon me 

 for this digression, but it is leally what I feel, 

 and what every tide-water man should feel, in 

 lower Virginia or wherever marl or lime is attain- 

 able. 



1 will now, sir, resume the subject for which this 

 communication was intended, to wit, my method 

 of cultivating corn ; although I do not know I 

 that I shall advance any thing new, or that any 

 body will fancy my way preferable to his own ; as 

 corn making is a subject upon which most farmers 

 think their way is preferable to all oihers, and I 

 dare say most of us are rather too well satisfied 

 with our own notions, and way of doing things^ 

 else perhaps agriculture would go ahead faster 

 than it does, and more science would be brought 

 to its aid. And again the same system of tillage 

 applicable to us, on our light lands, might not be so 

 on different soils. But as I think the method that 

 some of us pursue in this neighborhood a good 

 one, wheresoever applicable, I will even say on. 

 In the first place, then, I delay as long as possible 

 in breaking up my corn land, so as not to finish 

 until the planting season arrives. I am aware 

 that in this practice I am singular, but neverthe- 

 less 1 think il a correct one. One very important 

 reason with me is, that it saves from sprouting a 

 vast quantity of clover seed, that would otherwise 

 be lost ; as every one, I presume, has noticed upon 

 early fallowed clover land how thickly the seed 

 came up in the spring, which all of course must 

 be killed in the cultivation of the corn crop. Ano- 

 ther reason is that it saves at least one month's 

 work in the after-culture of the crop, as the weeds 

 and grass seed do not find their way up at all, 

 generally speaking ; as from the time the ground 

 is ploughed to the laying by of the crop, the drags, 

 cultivators, and ploughs are always going. And 

 thirdly, but not lastly, as I could give other rea- 

 sons, I think land injured by an exposure lo the 



