512 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ac:-'-;, in New England, produce loss than fifty, 

 than t'i .•, or mure. Now ground that will not 

 yield that • ::i >unt is not in a condition to be 

 planteil with hroom corn. To give the brush the 

 requisite length and firmness, there must be 

 strength in the soil. Most cultivators manure in 

 the hill, and, till very recently, no one thought of 

 raising broom corn in any other way. The plant, 

 in the early stages of its existence, is very frail and 

 of slow growth. It has been thought that the 

 warming and invigorating influence of manure, in 

 immediate contact with the radix, is indispensa- 

 ble to the development of the plants. The roots, 

 unlike those of Indian corn, cluster together in 

 form of a distaff or seem to draw nourishment but 

 from a limited space. Hence the inference, that 

 manure, to be serviceable, must be placed directly 

 underneath the plant. I think it bad economy to 

 manure in the hill for any crop. I would never 

 manure for the crop directly, but for the soil. I 

 regard this as a ruinous practice. The lawyer 

 who entirely flaj'S his client to-day, will be with- 

 out a client to-morrow. The farmer, who culti- 

 vates with special reference to immediate results, 

 will ere long fill his barns with emptiness. The 

 best fields of broom corn I have seen, this season, 

 were prepared and planted in the way I have in- 

 dicated. The manure was spread and plowed in, 

 and the seed planted with a corn planter. This 

 is highly important, as there may be saved there- 

 by at least one-third of the expense of cultivation. 

 The old mode of furrowing, dropping the manure 

 from a hod or planting by hand is tedious and ex- 

 pensive. Now for the pi-ocess. The land should 

 be carefully prepared and reduced to a fine tilth. 

 If ashes, plaster or guano are to be applied, let 

 them be soavii broadcast, and covered by harrow- 

 ing. In selecting seed, regard must be had to the 

 nature and.condition of the soils. There are three 

 well-known varieties, — differing only in the size of 

 the stalk and the length of the brush. If the soil 

 is in a high state of cultivation or in a position not 

 exposed to early frosts, the largest variety may 

 be used. If, on the contrary, it is poor, the small- 

 est variety should be selected. Except in these 

 extremes, the medium size should be preferred. — 

 The rows should be three feet apart, — the hills in 

 the rows two feet, and the number of stalks not 

 less than seven, nor more than ten. In planting, 

 the number of kernels deposited should be at least 

 twice as great as the number of stalks to be per- 

 mitted to stand. This is found necessary to pro- 

 vide against loss from imperfect seeds and from 

 insects. In the early stages of its growth, the 

 plant is very frail, and requires to be handled with 

 care. 



At the first hoeing, which should be performed 

 soon after the rows may be distinctly seen, the 

 earth should be carefully removed from the stalks 

 and fresh earth supplied and all the plants per- 

 mitted to remain. At the second, the pruning 

 process should be performed. If more stalks are 

 suffered to remain, than named above, the brush 

 will be short and worthless. Should be hoed, at 

 least, four times. Like Indian corn, it should, I 

 think, be hoed plain. Why not make hillocks 

 about fruit and forest trees, proportionate to then- 

 size and height, as well as about the corn stalks ? 



When the seed becomes hard, the harvesting 

 maybe commenced. Two modes are in use. 1. 

 rp o cut the stalk near the ground, and lay it length- 



wise in the furrow, and subsequently to cut the 

 brush aud spread upon the stalks. The object of 

 this is to put the stalks in a condition the more 

 easily to be covered. If buried, while green, they 

 will be decomposed in the following season. 



2. Tabling, as it is called, that i3, breaking the 

 stalks of one row across another, so as to form a 

 kind of table, upon which the brush is spread to 

 dry. This is the most convenient mode of har- 

 vesting, if no regard is had to the disposal of the 

 stalks. The stalks in the latter case, are cut the 

 following spring, thrown into heaps and burnt. 

 These stalks anil leaves are worthless as fodder, 

 and, if permitted to become dry are nearly as in- 

 destructible, by atmospheric agents, as walnut 

 hoop-poles. R. b. ii. 



EULOGY ON MR. DOWNING. 



We have risen from the perusal of this eulogy 

 with mingled feelings of pleasure and pain ; pained 

 at the horrible manner in which such a man lost 

 his life, and pleased that so judicious a choice has 

 been made of his eulogist ; pleased that the writer 

 paints in vivid colors the life of the man himself, 

 seizing upon its incidents with wonderful freshness 

 and force, and placing him again before us in per- 

 petual remembrance. Not as scattered through 

 his writings, but in this condensed form, we see 

 the objects of his life and labors in a thousand 

 different and pleasant forms all over the land ; 

 an object and labors that " conferred inestima- 

 ble benefits on rural life ; that elevated and im- 

 proved every branch of its economy, and gave an 

 ample affluence, and a more luxurious value to the 

 bounties of nature ; that imparted variety to abun- 

 dance, added elegance to comfort, and threw a new 

 and magic charm over country enjoyment, by re- 

 fining its occupations into grace, and softening its 

 aspect into beauty." 



While reading, we intended to select extracts for 

 our own pages, but could not do it. There is no 

 broken link in the chain of events related ; no turn- 

 ing aside for collateral and minor points, but an 

 unostentatious narration of that beautiful life so 

 full of manly energy and usefulness. Beautifully 

 and eloquently has the writer performed his task, 

 catching the lovely spirit of his subject, and em- 

 ploying with felicity the images and expressions 

 suggested by the eloquence of country life. 



The eulogy, then, is admirable, because it is 

 life-like — a descriptive likeness of the man — and 

 when this task was done, the eulogy was done. It 

 is a model in this respect. 



Mr. Downing was a member of the American 

 Pomological Congress, and this body selected the 

 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of this State, fco pro- 

 nounce the eulogy at its recent biennial session, 

 at Philadelphia. As we have said, we cannot 

 make extracts — there is nothing to lie omitted, or 

 added, and we shall publish it entire, which we are 

 confident will meet the approbation of our read- 

 ers, as we shall then have it in our monthly in a 

 form to be preserved. 



