1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



549 



KXPERIMENTS IN GATHERING CORN FODDER, 

 AND THE DIFFERENT EFFECTS ON THE 

 GRAIN. FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS IN RE- 

 GARD TO CALCAREOUS AND OTHER MA- 

 NURES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Your call for facts in the November No. of the 

 Register, has induced me to submit the following 

 to the inspection of the public, which was origin- 

 ally intended to be the commencement of a series 

 of experiments to satisfy my own mind, whether 

 or not injury resulted to the grain of Indian corn 

 from depriving it of its tops, as well as stripping 

 it ot the blades below the ear. 



On the 13th of September, 1S34, I selected five 

 adjacent rows of corn, of similar appearance, 

 planted on the same day, in rich bottom land, and 

 cultivated alike throughout the summer. In each 

 of these rows I selected 50 hills, passing by such 

 as had more than one ear, and rejecting all whose 

 ears, when examined attentively, did not seem to 

 be of the same kind. It stood one stalk in a hill; 

 three feet by five apart, having inadvertently been 

 left thinner "than the corn in the rest of the field. 

 This corn was quite green, being still in the roast- 

 ing ear state, though most of my neighbors at the 

 time had nearly finished gathering fodder, and one 

 of them had nearly finished cutting tops. The 

 first row was left in a state of nature, with its 

 blades, including the tops, entire, intending that 

 this should be the standard by which I should 

 judge of the loss or gain arising from each differ- 

 ent method of treatment. The second row was 

 deprived of both fodder and tops, which is the 

 usual mode in Virginia. From the third row the 

 fodder alone was pulled, which was done after the 

 customary manner, i. e. all the blades below, and 

 one above the ear. From the fourth the tops 

 alone were cut — the fodder left untouched. The 

 stalks in the fifth row were cut up near the ground, 

 and placed in a shock. At the end of each row 

 was left an indefinite number of stalks in their 

 natural state — as those were in the row which it 

 has pleased me to call my standard row. 



The 10th of November, walking in the field, 

 I just arrived in time to save this corn from being 

 tossed like common ears promiscuously in an ox- 

 cart. For one of the cartmen, after having wan- 

 dered over the whole field, and hauled away all 

 that had been made, on coming to this little corner, 

 was quite indignant to find that it should have 

 been skipped by the corn pullers, and had com- 

 menced with his own hands making havoc among 

 the stalks, on which I had labored myself with so 

 much care, and had lately watched over with such 

 parental solicitude, in order to save from the equal- 

 ly desolating hands of the corn pullers. On ex- 

 amination, I found that he had pulled off 30 ears 

 each in two rows, and these he had mixed with 

 other corn. Thus my experiment was cut down 

 to 20 ears. To prevent all future mishaps, I im- 

 mediately had the remainder pulled, shucked, 

 (husked I believe they say "down east,") carefully 

 placed in separate baskets, carried home, weighed, 

 labelled, and put away in my study. On the 1st 

 of October, 1835, I examined my corn, and found 

 it much infested by weevil, particularly that from 

 the fifth row. I had it carefully shelled in my 

 presence and weighed. The annexed table will 

 will show the result. In the two last columns the 



loss or gain per acre, will be very nearly seen, as 

 compared with the product in the standard row. 

 In this calculation I have taken 56 lbs. as a bush- 

 el. 



& 



H g 



5. — 



►-■ ^ 



Estimated quantity made 

 per acre. 



Loss per acre. 



Gain per acre. 



The result of the experiment in the second row, 

 is in accordance with what I had expected, and 

 with what seems to be the opinion of all thinking- 

 men. From this, some idea may be formed of 

 the immense annual loss to the corn crop in Vir- 

 ginia, from the general practice of stripping the 

 blades from the stalks, and at the same time de- 

 priving them of their tops. The fodder from the 

 50 hills in the second row, weighed on the 10th of 

 October, 1834. 5 lbs., which would be 290 lbs. per 



