1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



479 



of every planter, without an exception, of my ac- 

 quaintance. 



The corn that grew on the three acres was 

 made at a iburth (at least.) of the expense of any 

 equal quantity of the balance of my crop— the 

 corn in the same field with the three acres except- 

 ed. In the fust place, when a small crop is culti- 

 vated, so much time may be devoted to the first 

 preparation of the field, that but two workings are 

 necessary. Less land and less labor is required 

 to produce the same result. I observed in getting 

 up the corn, (it was hauled on the stalks to the 

 farm-pen,) that the carts were filled more rapidly 

 than they were in the poorer fields, owing to the 

 fact of the thick corn being more concentrated. 

 The cutter would generally at one stroke take 

 down two stalks: the laborers that picked up the 

 stalks have less walking to do; the fodder and tops 

 are also gathered with less expense. 



The ratio of increase of the number of ears, as 

 the distance between the corn stalks is diminished, 

 is greater than one would, at first thought, suppose. 

 For instance, if one plants his corn three feet 

 apart every way, he has 4840 corn hills in the acre; 

 if he just doubles the distance and planls six leet 

 apart, he has only 1210 corn hills in the acre: in- 

 creasing the distance by the multiplier two, di- 

 minishes the number of hills by the divisor four. 

 So that, if the ears of corn were as large, and the 

 same number of stalks in the hill, an acre of land 

 that would produce five barrels when the hills were 

 six feet apart, would produce twenty barrels when 

 the hills were three feet apart. This fact at once 

 shows the great loss from not planting corn as thick 

 as the land can bear it. The advocate for thin 

 planting would say, that "what is gained in number 

 by thick planting, is lost in the size of the ear:" but 

 in the two cases put above, the ear must be four 

 times as small in the thick acre in order to reduce 

 the quantity to an equality with the product of the 

 thinly planted acre. Nothing is more common 

 (when instituting a comparison between two fields 

 of corn) than the remark, "that one field is better 

 than the other because the ears of corn are larger," 

 and, "that the corn in the small eared field was 

 planted too thick, because, the ears might be larger 

 by thin re-planting;" whereas, in nine cases out of 

 ten, if the corn in the two fields was brought to the 

 measuring tub, the thickly set field would be found 

 to yield the most corn. 



The size of the ears that grew on the three acres 

 above mentioned, was so large, that I am con- 

 vinced the corn was not thick enough, and have 

 in mind to try still thicker planting next spring. 

 The experiment will of course be confined to low 

 moist land: as the want of moisture would as ef- 

 fectually check the growth of extraordinary thick 

 corn, as the want of fertility. 



I will add, in conclusion, that a good cart load of 

 pumpkins grew on the three acres, and that Mr. 

 John R. Elam witnessed the corn accurately mea- 

 sured. 



G. W. READ. 



Charlotte County, Nov. 5, 1835. 



farm of Capt. Daniel McNeil, of that county. 

 Our informant says he took the dimensions of this 

 mammoth apple tree carefully and accurately, 

 and found it to be 45 feet in height and 55 in 

 hreadth; circumference of the trunk 9 feet 4 inches. 

 About seven feet from the root there are eleven 

 branches, the average size of which are 3 feet 10 

 inches in circumference. But the most remarkable 

 fact about it is, the quantity of fruit it bore the pre- 

 sent year — one hundred and eighty bushels of ap- 

 ples were taken from it this tall. Four or five 

 bushels, of such as were bruised and partially 

 and entirely rotten, were left under the tree: and a 

 good deal of its fruit must have been taken away 

 by different persons ihrough the summer and fall; 

 so that the real quantity it bore must have been 

 very near, if notquitetwo hundred bushels. The 

 apples are very large. It stands near the South 

 Branch, on very rich soil. I have been informed 

 that it did not bear any fruit until after it was twen- 

 ty years old. It grew spontaneously where it now 

 stands, and, although forty years oid, continues to 



OTOW. 



From the Romney Intelligencer. 

 MAMMOTH APPLE TREE. 



We are indebted to a highly respectable gentle- 

 man of Hardy county, [Va.] for the following 

 facts relative to a mammoth apple tree, on the 



From t!ie Farmer and Gardener. 

 RIBBON GRASS. 



Plainfield, Windham Co., Ct. 



Dear Sir — I received a letter from you, a 

 short time ago, requesting information concerning 

 the ribbon grass [Phalaris Americana.'] The 

 grass you saw at Plainfield, on Mr. Woodward's 

 farm, two years since, I was informed originated 

 from the ribbon grass. It was originally culti- 

 vated in the garden for ornament, where it spread, 

 to the great, annoyance of the vegetables. Mr. 

 W. became dissatisfied Avith it, dug it up, and 

 threw it over the wall into the mowing lot, where 

 it continued to grow luxuriantly. Being deter- 

 mined to get rid of it, he again took it up and 

 threw it into the brook. It was so tenacious of life, 

 that it seized upon the watery element and spread 

 rapidly down the brook, so that in a Cew years it 

 extended down the brook more than a mile; its 

 progress towards dry land was more slow, but has 

 eventually spread over a number of acres, con- 

 verting a bog meadow into the best of mowing. 

 Mr. Bowen, who lived on the farm, informed me 

 that he mowed it twice in the season, and that it 

 produced about three tons to the acre, annually, 

 of excellent hay, which the cattle consumed with 

 as much avidity as any that was cut on the 

 farm. 



The meadow was so miry in many places, that 

 cattle could not pass, but the grass roots formed 

 such an impenetrable surface, that they could cart 

 over it, in getting hay without difficulty; and, in 

 some places, they entirely united across the brook, 

 forming a natural bridge that a person might pass 

 over. The brook is sufficiently large to operate a 

 cotton factory which has been erected about a mile 

 below. 



I have taken considerable pains to ascertain the 

 history, character and importance of the ribbon 

 grass, and come to the conclusion, that it was ori- 

 ginally an aquatic grass, and that the striped color 

 was produced by being transplanted into a dry, 

 gravelly soil. I have seen it in a number of 

 places where it had been cultivated for ornament, 

 spreading beyond its boundary and outrooting 



