1S39] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



693 



One of Iiis children, so feeble that he despaired of 

 beinnr able to save him, was thus suitably nourish- 

 ed, and ijvp.w up to vigorous health, by observing 

 daily ihe qualiiy ollhe mother's and finally ol'lhe 

 cow's milk, and taking the proper measures to cor- 

 rect its defects. Now it will be incomparably bet- 

 ter to procure the pure milk of the grass fed cows 

 on the banks of the Hudson and on the hills of Con- 

 necticut, than thus to ieed the poor children with 

 a drugged mixture ; but it will be at least a tempo- 

 rary palliative until the northern rail-road can be 

 completed, and pure milk can be obtained as easily 

 as the pure water of the Croion river. 



Housekeepers will be glad to know that by ad- 

 ding the same proporiion (one half a grain only to 

 a pint of milk,) good milk may be kept 24 or 36 

 hours, without danger of souring, even in warm 

 weather. But let them beware of convening food 

 into medicine by increasing the quantity, for I 

 have known this " simple, harmless thing," as it is 

 called, even in the shape of excessive drafts of soda 

 water, produce sores in the mouth and lips, which 

 indicates corresponding sores in the stomach and 

 this was followed by the miseries of dyspepsia and 

 decline. An able physician assures me that he 

 could ascribe the death of a patient, from a similar 

 elate of mouth and stomach, to nothing but the 

 famed morning cordial of Connecticut lay physi- 

 cians, " pearlash and cider.'''' It is time the world 

 had learned that medicine cannot safely be used as 

 daily food or drink, without leading to disease. 



Yours, &c. S. 



GRANT THORBURN IIV DEFENCE OF HIMSELF 

 AND HIS CHINESE TREE-CORN. 



We had designed our remarks in the September 

 No. (page 573) as the last notice of this subject. 

 But as Mr. Thorburn has written in reply, and 

 defence, and asks that his letter may be laid before 

 the readers of this journal, rather than permit the 

 least ground for charge of denying justice, or ol 

 being wanting in liberality to any one whom we 

 have assailed, we will again permit a page to be 

 occupied with this subject. We shall give Mr. 

 Thorburn's reply in full ; and then our own com- 

 ments, and last notice of him or his subject. 



To tlie Editor of Uie Farmers' Register. 



J^storin, L. T., 6th A'ou., 1839. 

 Sir — Tsend you a box ol'the Chinese tree-corn, 

 and two stalks having the ears on them as they 

 grew ; 1 think you will find that at least it is a new 

 variety. Also about 30 ears of the corn to distri- 

 bute among your friends ; and I hope if you live 

 to see the 10th of Auijust next, you will be satis- 

 fied that I wrote nothing about this corn but the 

 plain truth. This corn, Mr. Editor, is really a 

 valuable article ; it is a pity it should be strangled 

 in its birth. I ask nothinfj lor it or for myself but 

 a fair trial. When I commenced sellins: seed, 30 

 years ago, it was with a stock of only fifteen dol- 

 lars ; now, there is not a town, villase. or hamlet 

 on the continent but you will find, ^'■Thorburn's 

 seeds sold here.'''' It is but a fair inference then, 

 that the seeds must have been good, else the busi- 

 ness would not have grown so fast. Now, Mr. 



Editor, after having spent thirty of the best years 

 of my life with the ap[)robaiion of the public, you 

 may think it is not a very pleasant reflection to 

 have so many hard names (without a cause) 

 thrown in my lace ; noi withstanding all that_ has 

 been said both for, and against it, I am convinced 

 Irom two years experience, that it is ihe most pro- 

 fitable corn for the larnjer of any in the country 

 (the Baden excepted, but this rarely ripens with 

 us); most of my correspondents who have been suc- 

 cessful in its cultivation this year, say, they will 

 never plant any other sort. The demand lor the 

 Chinese corn continues, it is sold at my son's stores 

 for twelve and a half cents per year. I think I 

 have given away thousands, but never sold an 

 ear except to my son. 



George I. Pumpelly, Owego, Tioga co., N. Y., 

 10th October, 1839, vvriles, " my crop of Chinese 

 corn is the finest I ever saw of any corn, 100 

 bushels to the acre," &c. 



The proprietor of the ' Painsville [Ohio] Tele- 

 graph,' says, " 1 cultivated a small patch of Grant 

 Thorburn's Chinese corn; average yield, four large, 

 sound, ripe ears, for every kernel planted." 



R. H. Keywood, writes to the editor of the 

 ' Buffalo Commercial,' 2'2nd October, " I send you 

 an ear of the Chinese corn raised on my farm in 

 Ohio, which proves to be [others to the contrary] 

 all that was recommended by Mr. Thorburn," &c. 



T. M. W. of Cleveland, Ohio, 25th October, 

 writes, "about the middle of August my whole 

 crop of Chinese corn was ripe and gathered; it 

 was previously examined by the officers of the 

 County Agricultural Society, they gave it as their 

 judgment, tliat it would yield, at least one hun- 

 dred and twenty bushels to the acre of shelled 

 corn ; but as I left home belbre it was shelled, 1 

 cannot speak to a certainty." N. West, Indiana- 

 polis, Indiana, planted his Chinese corn 8ih of 

 May, was all ripe and gathered 29th August, 

 proved to be true as represented by G. Thorburn, 

 &c. &c. Mr. Coomlis, Freehold, New Jersey, is 

 of the opinion, it will produce one-third more than 

 any corn raised in his neighborhood, &c. Mr. 

 Hendrickson of the same place, writes in the 

 same strain of commendation. Mr. Prentiss of 

 the same place, planted from the 16th to the 21st 

 May the Chinese corn, was ready for husking on 

 1st September. Mr. R. S. D. Jones, Friendship, 

 Md., planted a lew grains in his garden after 

 his other corn was up; and the tree-corn was fit 

 lor use the earliest, &c. I might fill a small vol- 

 ume with simdar extracts, but enough I think has 

 been said to induce those who have failed in the 

 first to give it a second trial. Now, Mr. Editor, 

 as there are two sides to this, like every other ques- 

 tion, I think I have a claim on your impartiality to 

 be heard in my own defence, in your widely circu- 

 lating paper. Yours sincerely, 



Grant Thorburn. 



The corn has been received, and will be given 

 away to any of our subscribers who have not al- 

 ready had enough of this famous seed. If not so 

 disposed of, it \n\\ be boiled in the wash for our 

 town milch cow, as a partial indemnification for 

 the payment of freight and cartage. As to the 

 qualify, the separate ears are of good size, (for a 

 northern flint or hard grained corn.) just as might 



