THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



213 



CORN CULTURE. BOOK FARMING. ORCHARD 

 GRASS. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



I have derived much benefit, in the cultivation 

 of my corn crop, by the use of the coulter plough 

 recommended by Mr. J, M. Garnett, in one of 

 the volumes of the Farmers' Register. 



After the ground is flushed, and reduced by the 

 drag log, I chequer it with the coulter plough, 

 running as deep as I can with two strong horses. 

 To mark the spot for the corn to be dropped, I 

 have attached to the beam behind the coulter a 

 email ploughshare. When the corn rises, I run the 

 coulter plough deep on each side ; and after thin- 

 ning, I run the coulter plough through it one vv^ay, 

 and cross with rank cultivators. This I repi'at, 

 alternating the ploughs and the cultivators, till I 

 complete the cultivation. If the season be very 

 moist and the grass becomes strong,! make the last 

 ploughing with mould-board ploughs. This I do 

 with some reluctance, as I am unwilling to turn 

 the ground after flushing. I do but little with the 

 hoe, and think but little is necessary, I am some- 

 times obliged to chop a rough bottom. In my 

 neighborhood we had a continuing drought, Irom 

 the middle of June to the first of August last 

 year. The fostering rains which then fell restored 

 verdure to the stalk of the corn, though many of 

 the blades were entirely destroyed, and I made a 

 good crop. The main cause, I think, was the 

 deep shooting of the roots, by which they escaped 

 the burning influence of the sun, during the con- 

 tinued drought. 



I am a friend to book farming, founded on fact 

 and experience : in proof I offer my steady ad- 

 herence to the Farmers' Register. The philoso- 

 phers are now pushing their theories to a great 

 extent, and I think are disposed to mix too much 

 chemistry with agriculture. I am by no means 

 satisfied that the fertility of the glades, in the Al- 

 leghany mountains, is occasioned, even in part, 

 from the evaporations of the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans. I particularly distrust the philosophy of 

 the German school, both moral and natural. 



To those who are disposed to grow orchard 

 grass, I would observe, that the crop often fails 

 from defective seed. Those who supply the seed 

 stores often desire to have the benefit of the hay 

 and the seed, and gather it in its immature state. 

 To get good seed the plant ought to be perfectly 

 ripe, so as to serve lor nothing but litter. A small 

 piece of ground will produce much seed ; from 

 less than an acre and a half I last year gathered 

 near forty bushels. If good seed be sown, either 

 in March or September, it rarely fails. 



I commenced my grass culture with eight acres, 

 which I have extended to forty. The profit I 

 think greater than I could derive Irom grain crops, 

 on the same lands. I have anannual crop, and 

 the only expense, cutting and saving the hay. 

 The orchard grass which I sowed ten years ago 

 is now running out, and has been followed by 

 green grass, (Poa pratensis.) I cut a good crop 

 of hay from it last year, and the aftermath resists 

 the frost as well as orchard grass. My milch 

 cows, with no other food, except when snow was 

 on the ground, grazed on it till (he 10th of De- 

 cember, without failing in their milk. 



RUSTICUS. 



Eastern Shore, Md., March 13, 1842. 



DEBATE IN TME HOUSE OF DELEGATES ON 

 THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



From the Richmond Enquirer, 

 When the bill to provide for paying the ex- 

 penses of the members of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture came up on its third reading — 



Mr. Slrother offered a ryder providing that they 

 should be paid lor their past services, but that 

 hereafter the Board should be abolished. He 

 addressed the House at some length in opposition 

 to the Board, and denied that any great locus of 

 light would result from its labors. Who, he 

 asked, Vv'ere to constitute the Board 7 gentlemen, 

 politicians, or farmers'? If politicians were to 

 Ibrm it, surely no value would result; and if 

 farmers, what information would they convey 

 which could not be obtained in another way 1 

 The Board met a short time since in this city, 

 and informed us that they had turned their atten- 

 tion to the geology of the state and several other 

 matters connected with its agriculture. Their 

 first demonstration, however, was that ihey want- 

 ed their pay. Now, he took the position, that the 

 information which the Board of Agriculture was 

 designed to collect, could be obtained in a more 

 tangible form from other sources. It was true, 

 that the people were anxious on the subject of 

 agriculture ; yet they could gather fiom the pa- 

 pers all they desired to know, all that was useful, 

 and all that the Board would be able to liirnish. 

 If the members of the Board would hide their 

 light under a bushel unless appointed, if their 

 wisdom would depart from earth with them, 

 there would be some reason for putting them on 

 this Board and paying them for giving it to the 

 world. But not so, the agricultural papers were 

 in the habit of receiving all the benefits of the 

 information possessed by these gentlemen. 



Mr. Kennedy was sorry to witness so much op- 

 position to the measure now before the House. 

 Especially did he regret the source whence it 

 came. From his knowledge of the gentleman 

 from Rappahannock, (Mr. Strother,) and that 

 gentleman's known exemption from all that was 

 illiberal or contracted, he had relied on him to 

 sustain the measure. The objection urged against 

 the measure was that it would do no good. Now, 

 Mr. K. thought that it must be manifest to all 

 who would take the trouble to examine into the 

 matter. The operation of the Board was plain. 

 It gave a stimulus and encouragement to county 

 societies, and they afforded the means of obtain- 

 ing information for the press, which re-acied on 

 the people at large. "The press, Mr. K. said, 

 had done much, and had manifested a lively zeal 

 in the cause of agriculture. Still, it had over 

 and over again declared that knowledge was not 

 to be acquired in so effectual a manner as through 

 a report from a Board of Agriculture. 



Last year a State Board was appointed. Re- 

 cently it met here, not so much to give to the world 

 the (acts it had collected, as to organize a plan of 

 future operations. They propose to establish a 

 correspondence with every section of the stale, 

 with gentlemen of information and experience — 

 each man giving the experience of himself arid 

 neighbors. By reference (o similar boards in 

 other states, some idea might be formed of the 

 utility of which this one of ours would be produc- 

 tive. The books thev had published contained 



