1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



91 



by making up the bread, or dough, entirely with 

 hot water, in which the grits, as they call it, 

 have been steeped, and which appears to act as 

 an yeast in producing lightness. I have frequent- 

 ly used the hop yeast with equal success, although 

 I prefer the Indian mode. As a breakfast prepa- 

 ration, this bread with good butter, if the first is 

 well made, may fairly be termed a luxur} 7 . The 

 first time I saw it its excellence surprised me, ex- 

 hibiting a preparation to me entirely new, ami un- 

 thouglit of— at the same time prepared with so 

 much ease. The loaf may be made large. That 

 a change of bread, as well as other articles of diet, 

 is essential in preserving a healty action and tone 

 of the digestive organs, I believe is well deter- 

 mined; consequently, rice bread, which must evi- 

 dently be one of the most salutary, may fairly be 

 enlisted in the number. 



A sheaf of this grain submitted to the cutting 

 box, and sprinkled with a small quantity of rye or 

 Indian corn meal, is thought by our best horse 

 masters to have a happy effect on the stomach of 

 that useful animal — given at least weekly. 



If my mode of cultivating land is the produc- 

 tive one,* it will be discovered readily that the 

 manner in which I save my corn crop is what se- 

 cures it, as but tor the adoption of that plan, it 

 would be out of the question. If to produce the 

 greatest result possible, from any given quantity 

 of land, and labor bestowed on it, is the course 

 that a judicious cultivation of land would demand, 

 and that it is, I believe may be termed a self-evi- 

 dent proposition, then the mode of cultivating 

 land which I suggest, must be the correct one. Is 

 it not making the "two stalks stand where but one 

 stood before f ' But still it must be observed, that 

 the manuring plan comes in for a full share. Then 

 the wisdom of that plan is equally sell-evident, as 

 but tor it also, the result could not be obtained. 

 But give the manure, and cut down and remove 

 the corn when at maturity, and the result is cer- 

 tain. 



The remarks of that distinguished cultivator 

 Judge Buel, on this subject, in his excellent paper 

 on the cultivation of the corn crop, must be famil- 

 iar to reading agriculturists. There, it will be re- 

 collected, the Judge contends against any loss in 

 the corn by this mode of saving the crop. So do 

 I — and so will all who will fairly and judiciously 

 try it. But if there should be a little shrinkage in 

 the corn, there is none in the potatoes — the rice — 

 the peas, and the pindars, [ground peas.] I ween 

 two hundred bushels per acre of those valuable 

 productions, will amply settle the shrinkage ac- 

 count, as also fairly and fully close that opened for 

 "trouble." Nor will it be deemed, I hope, a small 

 item in the adjustment of "profit and loss," that 

 my land is well shaded by valuable ameliorating 

 crops, during that part of the season when the 

 burning rays of the sun acts so powerfully on land. 

 The success of corn after rice, on upland, with us, 

 it proverbial— especially if the stubble is turned 

 well under. The effect of the potato, the pea, 

 and the pindar on land, is well known, as impro- 

 vers of soil. To those who are disposed to enter 

 into the calculation, and adjust the account fairly, 

 I will remark, that the manuring I give, prepara- 

 tory to this "heavy crop," is an insurance for three 

 more, or rather five more in three years — my rota- 



"See account of the cultivation at p. 634, vol. II. — Ed. 



tion being corn, &c. cotton, rye, and peas on the 

 stubble ploughed in, oats and peas on its stubble, 

 followed by grass one year — no pasturing. The 

 grass year is intended as a year of perfect rest to 

 the land. 



But to form a correct estimate of the value of my 

 plan of saving the corn crop in addition to what 

 has been already stated, I must beg leave to refer 

 you to an accompanying paper on saving corn- 

 stalks and converting them into a superior food, 

 where it will be seen that I derive from my corn 

 crop, a most, valuable resource for raising cattle, 

 and that the plan I have adopted for saving my 

 corn gives me all the "refuse" of the corn in that 

 state in which it yields the greatest possible quan- 

 tity of nutriment, consistent with making the grain 

 — and that this refuse part amounts to a prodi- 

 gious mass to the acre — as also the pea crop in the 

 manner in which I cure and preserve the vines — 

 as also the vines of the potato crop, and pindars. 



You will readily conceive that my corn field af- 

 ter the whole production is housed, enables me to 

 support amply, a large stock. A principal feature 

 in my theory is, to maintain and keep every hoof 

 that I can support well, and of course to turn to 

 the account of forage, every thing that can be 

 made to go it. With me the key stone to the arch 

 is, manure — but the year after I manure, I never 

 fail to lime — the last slaked. I am aware the ques- 

 tion will be asked, what do I litter with? To this 

 I will say, leaves and weeds — and I litter well. 

 My cattle lie dry and warm in winter — in summer 

 dry and cool, on beds of leaves and weeds, and 

 my fence rows are kept clean. Every thing that 

 can be eaten by my stock is eaten, because it is 

 prepared for that purpose: and my stock in return, 

 gives that which prepares the leaves and weeds 

 for giving to the soil additional productive powers, 

 and secures the heavy crop, and ample remunera- 

 tion for the labor bestowed. 



AGRICOLA. 



Alabama, March 25, 1835. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



ON SAVING CORN-STALKS, AND PREPARING 

 THEM AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 



In my paper of the 25th March I referred to 

 another on the subject of the plan of saving a corn 

 crop adopted by me, in such a manner as to reap 

 from every part of the refuse a great benefit in the 

 way of feeding my cattle. The appropriation of 

 the stalk particularly, in this way, so as to make it 

 yield the greatest benefit that could be obtained 

 from it, consistent with producing and saving the 

 crop of grain, early arrested my attention, from 

 reading a variety of communications for years 

 back on the subject of the nutritive qualities con- 

 tained in the stalk at particular periods — as also 

 some experiments made in feeding with them. In 

 the prosecution of this object, I was urged by 

 succeeding in saving a corn crop in the manner 

 pointed out by that valuable agriculturalist Judge 

 Buel, and which plan I had seen practtsed on the 

 South Branch of Potomac, before reading it, I 

 make this communication to you, sir, the more es- 

 pecially, as I have read in your highly valuable 

 periodical, the "Register," some communications 

 on managing the corn-stalk to advantage, and be- 

 lieving that I am considerably ahead in an econo- 

 mical use of it. Since the plan has been adopted 



