748 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 12 



ihe suspicion that [ may have made a hobby oCihis I gave it, I must say, ihat mij trial of it illustrates 

 corn. Should any ofyou entertain it, [ confident- iie compleiely us anyihinf^I havo ever known, 

 ly trust that it wil! instantly vanish, when I call the truth of the old sayinjj!-. that " ihe devil rs not 

 your attention to the laci, wliich I have already j as black as he is painted.^'' 01' ihis 1 oHer the lol- 

 stated, that duriu!^ the present year I have made | lovvinjx eiaiemeiii as a eatisfiictory proof. I my- 

 a fiiir coniparative trial with no U-ss than nine j i5oir selected an ear of this liinious corn, last win- 

 others varieties of corn ; and that I feel pledized to I ler, in Thorhurn's slore in New York, out of a 

 continue simdar trials as Ion": as I can procure dif- | barrel just opene<!, and received afierwards as a 

 ferent kinds of corn wherewith to make ihem, my | present, half an ear, also bought from the same 

 sole object being to ascertain the best in every] store by a highly respectable merchant of that 

 respect, that our country produces. I have alrea- city. I planted the grains of both on the 7th of 

 dy ascertained, and as 1 verily believe beyond the April, in high land, such as I believe would pro- 

 possibility of having been deceived, that the twin- jduce 5, and possibly 6 barrels of our common va- 

 corn is more productive by at least 15 per cent., j rieties of corn, planted at the usual distances, 

 than any other with which I have tried it ; and "" 

 such a difference, even in a single crop, is well 

 worth regarding, lo say nothing of an equal annual 

 difference during a n.an's whole hH:>. Now, if this 

 has been the result, as it certainly has, of the care- 

 ful selection of seed corn, lor a series of years, (a 

 practice lirst published by a Mr. Joseph Cooper 

 of N. Jersey,) may we not well hope to make still 

 greater improvements in the quality and produc- 

 tiveness of this prince of all grains, by pursuing 

 the same means, and continuing to make compa- 

 rative trials between all the most popular varieties 



we can procure? Alihouirh there must be a 

 limit to the improvement of all plants, 1 thiidc it 

 almost certain that none o!us have yet reached it 

 in regard to any that we cultivate ; and this should 

 stimulate us to unceasing efforts lor the attainment 

 of an object so highly imporlant and desirable. 



There are two of my corn experiments which I 

 have yet to mention — both with dwarf varieties — 

 neither of which have I compared, either with the 

 twin corn, or any other kind. One I received 

 under the name of the Long Island yellow, flat 

 corn ; but was prevented Horn measuring either 

 the ground or quantity of grain, by its hein<r ga- 

 thered without my knowing it in time. All there- 

 fore I can do, is to report upon it by inspection. 



of 

 Two rows were planted 3 Icet apart each way, 

 leaving 2 and 3 stalks in a hill — in a few instan- 

 ces 4. The third row, by mistake, was made 5 

 feet from the others, but left with the same num- 

 ber of stalks the narrow way. The whole ground 

 was worked once with the plough, twice with the 

 cultivator, and twice with the hand-hoe. The 

 grain was fit to grind early in August, but the 

 stalks including the tassels, measured only about 

 six li^et in height, and the whole appearance was 

 so unpromising, that 1 probably should have giv- 

 en all of it to the hogs, iiad 1 not planted it spe- 

 cially for an ex|)eriment with which I was deter- 

 mined to go through, as I make it a constant prac- 

 tice to do with every thing of the kind. I there- 

 n^re let it remain without pulling the blades or cut- 

 ting the tops, until Ihe middle of October, when 

 it was carefully gathered in my own presence, 

 having previously had the ground accurately mea- 

 sured with a surveying tape. This turned out to 

 be within 40 square yards ofihe 16th of an acre; and 

 to my great surprise, produced two bushels of 

 sound corn, weighing 58 lbs. to the bushel, which 

 is at the rate nearly of 6 barrels 2 bushels per 

 acre. Mad the mistake not been made in plan- 



I tincf the third row, 5 feet from the other two, the 



I I 



24ih of an acre, within a small Iraction, instead ol 

 It has longer cobs than any corn I ever saw, being I the 16tli. would have produced the (piantity I 

 generally Trom 10 to 12 inches in length— one I j gathered, for it was evident that the greater dis 



found that measured fully 14. It has S or 10 rows 

 on the cob, of broad araiii, of a rich orange color, 

 which is fit to grind early in August, and which, 

 one of my brothers from whom 1 obtained it, in- 

 forms me weighs 01 to the bushel. Even in our 

 climate, I think it would be productive, as it 

 oTows so low, that, m rich land, it might be plan- 

 ted 3 feet each way, with 2 and 3 or 4 stalks in a 

 hill. This might be well worth considering by 

 those bad providers who sell out their corn before 

 Christmas, and buy before midsummer, if they 

 had any rich land in which to plant an early va- 

 riety ; but most unfortunately for them, they are 

 rich only in bad habits, which starve the stomach, 

 at the same time that they e,\hau?t the purse, and 

 thus burn their candle at both ends. 



My last corn experiment was with the kind 

 desianaied bytlie captivating title of the " Chi- 

 nese tree-corn!" which has been rendered no- 

 torious ihrougliout the United States, by the 

 Munchausen puffs of a certain benevolent gen- 

 tleman who proliessed to sell it ibr ^^ charitable 

 purposes,'''' at the very moderate price of 25 cents 

 a ear! Now, notwithstanding there is strong 

 reason to suspect that his charity, like that of 

 manv other professors, has ended where it began 

 ..r— at home; and notwithstanding his corn has (iil- 

 len so wolldlv short of i lie character which lie 



lance did not make the third row better than the 

 other two. Sixteen selected ears averaged in 

 length 9^ inches, and in rows upon the cob, twelve. 

 One of my neighbors, wlio is an old and experi- 

 enced corn planter, tried this corn in his jjarden, 

 and pronuoncee it the best for table-use he has ever 

 cultivated, being a very early bearer, and more 

 productive than any of the other dwarf varieties 

 he had seen. 



What is both curious and instructive in regard 

 to this corn, is, that although our papers abound 

 with unqualified abuse of if, and iis charitable 

 puffier, who certainly deserved some public expo- 

 sure, not a single individual among the niimeroua 

 denouncers of himself and his " humbug corn" as 

 one calls it, has deemed it worth his while to report 

 any measurement whatever, either of the ground on 

 wliich he planted it, or of the quantity it produced ; 

 although we ousht to presume, that each of Ihem 

 bought it Ibr the ex()ress purpose of giving it a fiiir 

 trial? But ifall experim.ents are to be thus mdtte, 

 [ v/i!l venture to say, that our cause will derive 

 precious little benefit from them. 



Ijet experimenters always finish carefully, what- 

 ever they begin, and our agriculture will contin- 

 ually improve. But it is, to say the least of it, a 

 great waste of time, labor and words, to be writing 

 and publishingsuch articles as most.of those which 



