552 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



trained while in the nursery, and improperly set 

 in the orchard, one-third of them die the first sea- 

 son. The remainder being sickly, languish three 

 or four years, during which time one-half of them 

 die. Of all the trees thus set, not more than one 

 in ten is ever profitable. About this time Mr. Un- 

 thrifty dies, leaving his unthrifty orchard for his 

 unthrifty children, who are very thankful for the 

 pains he has taken for them, at the same time 

 thinking him to be nearly as wise as any man in 

 the union. This is the way many men manage 

 with their orchards, who boast of being enlight- 

 ened, and who are living in these free and enlight- 

 ened States of North America. I should like to 

 say something on the subject of irrigation, which I 

 perceive is very imperfectly understood in this part 

 of the country ; but shall defer it till a future pe- 

 riod, well knowing that the minds of men are much 

 like their stomachs : 



If cram'd too full, they throw out the whole; 

 But if fed by degrees, they digest all with ease. 



Elihu Cross. 

 Potter Hill, Rens. Co., N. Y. 



CONCORD FARMERS' CLUB. 



October 25, 1852. 

 Subject, — The Corn Crop in New England. 

 Mr. JosEPn D. Brown said he once thought the 

 corn crop an unprofitable one to raise, but upon 

 adopting a different practice in the modes of culti- 

 vation, his views had changed. He believed that 

 in his earlier practices he had not managed the 

 crop properly. By manuring altogether in the 

 lull he used to get a great deal of stalk and but 

 little corn ; he then spread the manure entirely, 

 and under this practice found the stalk too slender. 

 Last year he spread the manure as usual, plowed 

 the ground twice, pulverized finely, and just be- 

 i'jre dropping the corn added a table spoonful of 

 guano to the hill, sometimes mingled with meadow 

 nmd, and in another case, pure guano, spreading 

 it about the hill before dropping the kernels ; hoed 

 the corn three times, and has harvested afinecrop 

 of sound grain equal to 1200 bushels of ears npon 

 22 acres, making an average of about 52 bushels 

 to the acre. On four acres in the centre of the 

 field felifcve was estimated to be 80 bushels to the 

 acre. The average weight, husked and weighed 

 on the ground where it grew, was 45 lbs. to the 

 square rod, on the four acres of the heaviest. — 

 He used 25 ox loads of good composted manure to 

 the acre, worth $1 a load. He thought forty 

 bushels per acre a fair average crop, viz : 



50 bushels porn per acre, at 75 cts 37,50 



fetover, per acre 



.U',00 



I ost of cultivation per acre 10,00 



25 loads manure 25,00 



183 lbs guano 3,33 



$47,50 



$38,33 



Leaving for profit $9,27 



Saving nothing of the interest of the land, he 

 found a clear profit of $0,27 an acre, and each 

 acre in a condition to produce a heavy crop of 

 grass, sufficient as an average, perhaps, to give I nolds— Abiel Wheeler, and Joseph IIosmkr 



two tons of hay to the acre, for four years, with- 

 out manure, and for six or eight years with an an- 

 nual top dressing of good compost. 



Mr. Elijah Wood, Jr., said he had been satis- 

 fied for ten years past that the corn crop is a pro- 

 fitable one. He could do all the necessary work 

 for this crop for $13,50 per acre ; usually puts on 

 25 cart-loads of manure, and gets about 40 bushels 

 of sound corn to the acre. He thought the stover 

 worth as much as the labor costs. It is a good 

 crop for our dry and hot summers. He would not 

 advise to put the crop on moist land ; other crops 

 may be made more profitable there. He said we 

 could raise this crop as favorably as can farmers at 

 the West ; their crops fail after two or three years 

 planting without manure, and they are then obliged 

 to have recourse to methods similar to ours in order 

 to re-invigorate the soil. In passing through the 

 State of Ohio the past summer, he saw few fields 

 which he thought would average over 25 bushels to 

 the acre. In cultivating, he keeps the land level 

 and sows grass seed at the last hoeing — thinks this 

 process cheaper and better than plowing and seed- 

 ing or sowing grass seed with grain in the sjiring. 

 Would recommend plowing heavy land intended 

 for corn in the fall ; but light sward land, if only 

 the day before planting the better. 



Mr. J. Warren Brown said that the gentlemen 

 who had preceded him in this discussion had re- 

 ported so much more favorably than he could, that 

 it was hardly worth while for him to speak ; but 

 as experiments are not always the most valuable 

 because they are successful, he would briefly state 

 his operations and their results. He had plowed 

 a few acres of poor land, so poor that the grass 

 got from it for several years past was only sufficient 

 to pay for the cutting and making. This he had 

 planted with corn, adding a spoonful of guano min- 

 gled with finely pulverized meadow mud, ashes and 

 plaster to the hill, and with this treatment had gath- 

 ered 21 bushels sound corn to the acre. He thought 

 the stover would pay all expense of cultivation. 

 This was done as an experiment. In his other 

 corn crops where he manured with 25 ox loads to 

 the acre, he could get as an average from 40 to 50 

 bushels of good corn from the same amount of land. 

 Several years ago he gave up cultivating corn from 

 the belief that it was an unprofitable crop ; but he 

 had seen conclusive evidence that he was wrong, 

 and now believed that it is one of our most profita- 

 ble crops. 



Dea. Abiel Wheeler said the corn crop was 

 particularly liable to be injured by cut worms. 

 Fields in his section had suffered considerably for 

 many years. He had hoped some remedy would 

 be suggested for this evil. 



Subject for next meeting, Monday evening, Nov. 

 1, ii Are there advantages in cutting fodder for 

 a'-odc?" Leaders — Joel Wheeler — Joseph Ret- 





