1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



259 



corn, he rightly remarks, that though it has been 

 so long cultivated, much still remains to be learnt in 

 relation to this valuable plant. Ifthe perpendicu- 

 lar roots of" Indian corn escaped his observation 

 for half a century, it is not to be wondered that 

 they never attracted mine, whose experience is 

 much more limited. The progress of the arts are 

 slow. Some of them now seem to be under the 

 spur; but agriculture has proceeded at "snail's 

 pace." 



Many of our American writers who have writ- 

 ten books, have been gentlemen agriculturists 

 without practical experience, and who have run 

 greatly into theories and speculations. Among 

 practical farmers, ancient habits and maxims 

 ha-'e been adopted without reflection, and when 

 once fixed are seldom changed. The three-field 

 system, which has been the ruin of our lands, has 

 still fust hold in our country, and perhaps may wear 

 out in twenty years to come. I had heard some 

 of our old farmers say, that for Indian corn, surface 

 cultivation was the best ; and this year for the first 

 time, I have broken the ground to the depth of the 

 soil, for corn cultivation. Perhaps the manifold 

 lateral roots thrown out by a stalk of corn, may, 

 in some degree, be attributed to the perpendicular 

 roots being obstructed by the hard ground below 

 a superficial cultivation. A beet or parsnip will 

 not make a good root, unless the ground be deeply 

 stirred before planting, but will throw out fibres ; 

 and as a means lor aiding .(he growth of the per- 

 pendicular roots in one of my corn fields, I am 

 now crossing with a coulter plough, and should I 

 find my crop improved, and I live till next year, 

 I will use it generally in my corn culiivation. 



I apprehend that there can be no universal rule 

 for the cultivation of Indian corn. A sandy soil, 

 a friable mould, and a stiff clay, require very dif- 

 ferent treatment. Much too depends upon the sea- 

 son ; but there are certain points in relation to if, 

 which I have settled for myself, though I am still 

 open to better instruction. 



I prefer the twin corn, believing that on im- 

 proved lands, it will afford the largest production ; 

 the grain compared with some other varieties is 

 defective in weight and solidity. I am now 

 growing on one of my farms a corn of better quali- 

 ty, which by carellil selection, I apprehend in a 

 few seasons more will be a superior twin corn. 

 My second proposition is, that corn ought to be 

 planted, cleaned, and thinned as soon as the season 

 will permit. Our severe drought generally occurs 

 between the 20th of July and the 20th of August; 

 and when the stalk has attained its full growth, it 

 is not so much injured by want of rain as in its 

 growing in a tender state. If I possessed Mr. Es- 

 pys' secret, of procuring rain at pleasure, I should 

 prefer late planting. My third is, that wheat 

 ought never be sown among corn if the land is 

 equal to profitable production ; it is generally ne- 

 cessary to give it a late ploughing, preparatory to 

 sowing wheat, which seldom fails to injure "the 

 corn. My last is, that corn ought never be strip- 

 ped of its fodder ; the reasons ibr which may be 

 found in the pages of the Register. 



I have always supposed that the best seed-corn 

 was that which from experience had been found 

 best suited to the climate ; a northern corn has 

 been tried here called the Dutton corn, without 

 success. To the north six or seven stalks are ge- 

 nerally left in the hill, to compeneate for the small- 



ness of the ear : cultivated in this manner here, in 

 a favorable season it will fire, and last year the 

 failure was entire. We find the twin corn to 

 be later than our common gourd-seed, but is 

 sufficiently early to escape the frost. I some 

 years ago sent some of it to one of my friends in 

 Bedford county, Pa., and he informed me that it 

 was much too late for the climate. It appears from 

 a communication made to the Register by Doctor 

 Archer, that it ripens early at Old Point Comfort. 

 These facts do establish that corn suitable to 

 the south, will not answer for the north and e con- 

 verso. Commissioner Ellsworth, by a letter of the 

 12th of December, 1837, addressed to the editor 

 of the 'Farmer and Gardener,' recommends the 

 Baden corn for its great product to the south and 

 west, and speaks of its being grown advantageous- 

 ly as far north as 45. This letter covered a state- 

 ment froni Mr. Baden, representing it to be early in 

 its growth, and producing four to eight good ears 

 to the stalk. A corn so prolific, and which was 

 equally suitable to the shores of the St. Mary's, 

 and the banks of the St. Laurence, would have 

 been of great value to our corn growing states, 

 and might have cured some of us of our hanker- 

 ing for the cotton and sugar regions. 



1 have now a letter before me from one of the 

 most experienced and successful agriculturists in 

 Fairfax county, Virginia, who state the Baden to 

 be a corn which ripens late there, and for other rea- 

 sons to be the worst he ever grew. The Baden 

 corn has been grown on this shore, with as little 

 success as in Fairfax. The high station and high 

 character of the Commissioner forbids the suspi- 

 cion that he was concerned in the profits of this 

 humbug; lam willing to consider him only the 

 instrument ot'dupery, and only remark that a gen- 

 tleman who stands officially at the head of the 

 arts, ought to be careful how he sanctions with his 

 high name a representation which leads to injury 

 he cannot repair. Farmers are generally a sim- 

 ple, confiding race, who look with much respect to 

 high men in high offices. Sir Robert Walpole, 

 the great English minister, used to say of them, 

 when brought up to be taxed they were as mute 

 and submissive as sheep under shearing ; but that 

 merchants and manufacturers, under the same 

 operation, fought and squealed like pigs. 



RrsTicrs. 

 E. S., Md., I7th Jpril, 18.39. 



shakers' estakltshmf.nts. 



From the Second Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts. 



In a survey of the agriculture of Berk&hire, it 

 would be inexcusable to pass over these establish- 

 ments. 



1. The family at Tyringham consists ordina- 

 rily of one hundred members. The farm is un- 

 derstood to contain more than one thousand acres, 

 principally situated on the side of a high hill, and 

 running down into the valley, where it is crossed 

 by the small stream called Hop brook, which emp- 

 ties into the Housatonic river at South Lee. The 

 vievv from this eminence, as the prospect extends 

 towards the northwest, embracing the village of 

 Lenox, "set upon a hill," with the whole interve- 

 ning valley of a diversified aspect and iuxuriantsoil, 

 the little manufacturing bee-hive of South Lee^ 



