1839J 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



653 



The plant would escape mutilation, and conse- 

 queniiy ihe ear would be comi)Ietely perlected ; 

 the grain vvoulii be plump and heavy; would mea- 

 sure llirlher, and iatten more. l]e.-ides, there 

 would be ilie gain of time. There is no work 

 done on plantations, which makes so poor a re- 

 turn for the labor expended. I hdve heard prac- 

 tical men say that a smart man will, with a 

 gcythe, cut a greater weight of hay in a day, 

 than any five hands can gather in blades. As liir 

 as my experience goes, this tails short rather than 

 exceeds the truth. 



But the question is asked, what shall we use in 

 Jieu ol' blades. My answer is, we have more 

 land capable of yielding hay than we imagine. 

 Upon every planlation there are low grounds, 

 shallow ponds, and patches of swamp, devoted 

 conmionly to rushes, brambles and irum sprouts, 

 which, if drained and plougiied, >ield handsome 

 crops of hay. Our ordinary high-lands proiluce 

 tolerable crops of grass, if cow-penned and plough- 

 ed. Another resource is that of cutiinsf the grass 

 which springs up on our stut^ibie lands, from which 

 crops of small grain have been taken. Another 

 source of supply would be this Ibdder-corn I aiTi 

 recommending. Two or three acres of good land 

 appropriated to this purpose, would lurnish a large 

 Bupply of iijraiie. The corn might be cut and 

 stacked in the fields, as is the practice of the far- 

 mers of the middle and northern stales, and this 

 might be done at any time in September or Octo- 

 ber, as would best suit the convenience of the 

 planter. 



Fodder diligently (jathered from these sources, 

 would at least enalile us to dispense with a part of 

 the blade crop. The stripping might be post- 

 poned until the blades below the ear were dead. 

 By that time, the urain would be so far matured, 

 that it would suffer liir less than hsippens when 

 every blade is green at the time of gaiherir)g. 



1 have never yet ascertained the weiglit of an 

 acre of lodder corn, but have no hesitation in say- 

 ing that it is very great. One acre ol' good land 

 will furnish an abundance of forage for lour hor- 

 ses lor three months. Mules appear to be espe- 

 cially Ibnd of it, and cows running upon ordinary 

 pastures, will, if led with these chopped corn stalks, 

 double the butter in a fi^w days. 



It is well known thai the average crop of corn 

 of the middle and northern states, exceeds our own, 

 and that this arises not so much from superiority 

 of soil, as li'om the number of stalks they are able- 

 to crowd upon an acre. With them, the croa 

 plant does not attain a height of more than seven 

 or eight feet, while with us it is not uncommon to 

 see stalks lijurteen feet in height. As a conse- 

 quence, they are able to leave lour stalks in a hill, 

 when we leave only one, and hence their crops 

 are larger than ours. In this climate, then, the 

 tendency of Indian corn is to grow to stalk, rather 

 than to ear, and by adopting the plan I propose 

 for cultivating it expressly for the ear or blade, 

 you take advantage of that propensity, and correct 

 what may be termed an incumberance to valuable 

 practical uses. If this immense growth of stalk 

 militates against the production of grain, it is no 

 small mitigation of I lie evil, if we can employ Ihe 

 stalk measurably as a substitute lor grain. 



A DISTINGUISHED FARMEIl OF NEW YORK. 



Murruy's Travels in Nortli America. 



From Canandalgua, which I left with much re- 

 luctance, we passed through a thriving and well cul- 

 tivated country to Geneseo, where I had the plea- 

 sure of being introduced to Mr. W , the 



owner of a magnificent estate in the Genesee flats. 

 Fortune seemed not yet wearied of being bountiful, 

 and allowed us to see this most beautiful valley, 

 with the advantage of residing in one of the most 

 ho.-jpiiable and agreeable houses that I ever entered. 

 Mr. VV 's son accompanied us through his ex- 

 tensive farms, which are lurmed lo deliglit equally 

 the eye of a Poussin or a Sir J. Sinclair. The 

 broad meadows of an alluvial soil, covered with 

 the richest grasses, as watered by the winding 

 Genesee,are studded vvith lrecs,beautilully and neg- 

 ligently grouped, among which are scattered large 

 herds of cattle of various breeds and kinds, bolh 

 English and American; the meadows are here 

 anU there interspersed with fields of Indian corn 

 iuid wheat, while the hills that rise on each side 

 are crowned with timber, excepting spots where 

 the encliroaching hand of improvement has begun 

 to girdle some of the tall sons of the Ibrest, whose 

 scathed tops and black bare arms,'betokening their 

 approaching fail, give a picturesque variety to the 

 scene. 



Yet this scene, extraordinary and interestinsr as 

 it was, possessed less interest to a contemplative 

 and musing mind, than the veiierable and excel- 

 lent gentleman ivho had almost created\t; lor it. 



was now forty-four years since Mr. VV came 



as the first seitler to this spot, with an axe on his 

 shi'ulder, and slept the first night under a tree. 

 After this, he lodged in a log-house; subsequent- 

 ly in a cottage ; and he is now the universally es- 

 teemed and respected possessor of a demesne, 

 which many of the proudest nobility of Europe 

 miirht look uj)on with envy, where he exercises 

 the rites of hospitality, in the midst of his amiable 

 liimily, vvith a sincerity and kindness that I shall 

 not easily forget. 



[The subject of the foregoing well-deserved 

 euloiry is James Wadsworth esq., one amonf 

 our inost esteemed subscribers and contributors. 

 When thus presuming to name this distinguished 

 firmer, we will add that his zeal (or agricultural 

 vimprovement, aided by the generous use of his 

 '\vealth, in one remarkable instance at least, has 

 been directed by patriotism and benevolence for 

 the general good of the country. When Mr. 

 Wadsworth had read our translation of Puvis' 

 ' Essay on Lime,' which was prepared for and 

 first appeared in the 3rd volume of the Farmers' 

 Register, he duly appreciated the value of the 

 work, and as much lamented the neglect of the 

 subject in the great agricultural state of New 

 York. He wrote to ask our permission to spread 

 the essay among his countrymen by republication 

 at his own expense, to be distributed gratuitously. 

 Our exclusive right of authorship to the transla- 

 tion had not been guarded by patent, (nor desired 

 to be,) (hough it was as much respected by the 

 applicant; and wg cheerfully and gladly granted 



