1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



17 



proportion to the weight of grain upon it; and in 

 this matter, therefore, the small will be ibund to 

 have no advantage over the large ears. I speak 

 particularly of the flint corn, having made no ex- 

 amination of the gourd seed varieties, where I 

 suspect the advantage will be perhaps more in fa- 

 vor of the large ear. There is however one advan- 

 tage on the side of the corn with a small cob, 

 which deserves much consideration. The corn 

 with the small cob is more likely to be dry and 

 sound, and becomes merchantable earlier than 

 that with a large cob. The large cob retains its 

 moisture much longer; and where the season is 

 backward, or the corn late, or where it is harvest- 

 ed by being cut up at the bottom while the stalks 

 are green, and ripened in the stack, there is dan- 

 ger, especially if the season be unfavorable, of its 

 not drying sufficiently, and of its becoming mouldy 

 in the bin. I have known serious losses to accrue 

 from this circumstance, especially where the corn 

 after being husked had been placed in large heaps, 

 and the granary not well ventilated. This, in 

 fact, is the only objection I have to what is called 

 the Dutton corn, so much commended by Judge 

 Buel, and of which he has exhibited at the agri- 

 cultural shows some splendid samples; and also 

 to other twelve and fourteen rowed varieties. This 

 circumstance, as I have recently learned, has in- 

 duced some very intelligent farmers in New 

 Hampshire, on the Connecticut river, to give up 

 the cultivation of the Dutton com for the eight 

 rowed varieties. The large twelve rowed corn 

 will, I believe, produce ordinarily more bushels to 

 the acre than the small eight rowed corn. A 

 good sized ear of the twelve rowed will yield 

 more than half a pint of shelled grain; one of the 

 small eight rowed will not exceed a gill. A field 

 of the twelve rowed will yield generally one good 

 ear to a stalk; a field of the small eight rowed 

 will do no more; for I have not found, in my own 

 cultivation, that the eight rowed is more likely to 

 produce two ears to a stalk than the twelve rowed. 

 Its producing two ears in either case, depends, in 

 my opinion, something upon the selection of seed 

 from twin-bearing stalks, but more upon wide 

 planting; as corn which is crowded or closely 

 planted will very rarely produce more than one 

 good ear to a stalk; if there is a second, it is com- 

 monly imperfect, and a mere nubbin. It is ob- 

 vious, then, that the twelve rowed corn will yield 

 more than the eight rowed to the acre; but it will 

 not yield twice as much, because the small kind 

 will bear much closer planting than the large 

 kinds, as the stalks and leaves are not nearly so 

 luxuriant. The kind grown in this part of the 

 country was remarkable for its low growth, and 

 the ears being set very near to the ground, the 

 stalks being in this case small, the fodder is more 

 easily saved, but the yield of herbage is much less 

 to the acre. It may be expected on this account 

 to ripen earlier. The small amount of stalks and 

 leaves is, I believe, attributable to their not ma- 

 nuring their corn lands, rather than to any pecu- 

 liarity in the kind of corn. That high manuring 

 in the same year of planting the corn will produce 

 a great amount of stalk and leaf, is well known; 

 but that the actual yield of grain is always in pro- 

 portion to the luxuriance of the plant, is a point 

 not so well established, and upon which I should 

 be extremely glad of the opinions of observing 

 and practical farmerc. That the extraordinary 

 Vol. Ill— 3 



luxuriance of the plant will delay the ripening of 

 the grain is certain. Market-men near our large 

 cities understand this, as they never manure the 

 peas which they wish to bring forward very early; 

 and it is a common observation, how well found- 

 ed I will not say, that the very high manuring of 

 potatoes causes them to "run too much to vine;" 

 and the quantity of potatoes in the hill is not al- 

 ways in proportion to the luxuriance of the tops.* 

 Whether in such cases, if the season were long 

 enough to admit of the perfect maturity of the 

 plant, the yield of grain and of tubers would not 

 correspond with the great luxuriance of the her- 

 bage or stalks, is another query which grows out 

 of the subject, and deserves inquiry and attention, 

 as it is a matter of great practical importance to 

 ascertain, if possible, (which can only be done by 

 lonff observation and experiment,) to what degree 

 corn, potatoes, or other plants, may be safely and 

 advantageously forced by manure, with a due re- 

 gard to the actual return in grain or tubers. 1 

 have spoken above of the small varieties of the 

 eight rowed corn, though not of the smallest. The 

 Hoosic corn is larger than what is called the Ca- 

 nada corn, though probably it is the same, and 

 has acquired a larger size from successive planting 

 in a lower latitude. The ear is about ten inches in 

 length. A kind of eight rowed corn is grown on 

 the Deerfield meadows, which frequently measures 

 sixteen inches in length, and from a single ear of 

 which I have sometimes obtained a full pint of 

 grain. It ripens late, however, and requires early 

 and very wide planting. On our fine alluvions, 

 with high manuring, it yields about fifty bushels 

 to the acre. It weighs from fifty-seven to sixty 

 pounds to the bushel, whei'eas, my twelve rowed 

 and a small eight rowed corn, which I have grown 

 upon a thin soil, weigh from sixty to sixty-four 

 pounds per bushel. 



Another inquiry connected with this subject de- 

 serves attention. Is the color of the corn any 

 index of its nutritious properties? This is a sub- 

 ject for experiment, and for chemical analysis. Be- 

 tween the varieties of the yellow and the white 

 flint corns, I have made no experiments. The 

 prejudices in favor of the one or the other in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, where the one or the 

 other is cultivated, are strong, and as in mo3t 

 other cases exactly coincident with the interests or 

 habits of different individuals; those who grow 

 and eat the yellow pronouncing the white tasteless, 

 and those who grow and eat the white, with the 

 same self-complacency, disdaining the yellow. 

 But between the yellow flint of the northern states, 

 and the white goi-ird seed of the south, I am in- 

 clined to believe there is a difference in nutritious 

 properties in favor of the former. This opinion is 

 formed only on a single experiment, which I made 

 some years ago; but of which I preserved no 

 written record, and can only state it from memory, 



* These views accord with the reasons given in a 

 former No. of the Fanners' Register, (p. 257, Vol. I.) 

 in favor of applying manures, in preference, to those 

 crops in which general bulk is wanted, instead of those 

 of which the quantity of seed is the object— or, for ex- 

 ample, to the crops of grass, in alternate husbandry, 

 rather than to the wheat cr corn which follow them. — 

 Ed. Far Reg. 



