^I)c iHivmcv'^ iUDntl)li) btfiitor. 



159 



this way jou cmi leuil out your stacUs, ami keep 

 them sheltered fioni the storm hesijles. 



For a corn knife we Use a half corn scythe 

 which we have cut in convenient leii^itli, and 

 liaVe one end shanked down, and a handle put 

 on, leavinj; the lilade some fourteen or tifteen 

 inches in length ; and with that knife we can 

 cm otj' a hill at a cli|K 



1 I shodid he happy, Mr. Editor, to have your 

 opinioi) on the economy of culliiijr np corn, and 

 also on the manner in which yoii cure it and 

 store it. Yours tridy, 



L. bURAND. 



Da-hij, a., Oct. 20, 18-13. 



Remarks. — The editor of the Visitor, not ovcr- 

 wise ill his own conceit, prefers followin;i the 

 advice of such fanners as Ids Iriend Duiaiid, to 

 presenting his own case as a com-lusive exam- 

 ple. 'I'he pr.ictiee in the Connecticut river por- 

 tion of New Hampshire is very common of cut- 

 tin<r coin as soon as it is filled and glazed with- 

 out toppiup. This makes it pretty sure against 

 injury liy early frost; and we helieve the cpian- 

 tity and quality of the corn are almost equal to 

 what the corn might he if the corn were tO|>ped 

 and left standing. The practice in this section 

 of the country in the Merrimack valley has heen 

 and continues to he the topping of the corn and 

 securiiiji the stalks first, and gathering it late. 

 Sometimes in anticipation of a fiost the suc- 

 ceeding night in Septetijlier, stnall fields with 

 the tops on are cut up and slacked to dry iti the 

 fieW. 



This year the corn raised by llie Editor of the 

 Visitor was on different kinds of land. Oiu- in- 

 tervale land intended tor corn, and hetter pre- 

 pared hy previous manuring than any lot we 

 ever had, was covered with wi.ier from the fj-esh- 

 ets of the river until the usual time of planting. 

 It was planted lute in May with additional stim- 

 ulating inanur« ; but what with loo much wet 

 at the commencement of the season, and the 

 siihs-equent drought parchitig down the deep 

 stirred liest intervale soil, the corn gained little 

 head until late in July : at the lime of ha\ itig, 

 when we were absent from town, detained hy 

 sickness, our manager .'laid the prospect was that 

 upon this rich land there would he little or no 

 crop. It did however come forward afterwar<ls 

 — some of it grew large ; hut it was very hack- 

 ward and was scarcely in milk when the first 

 frost in September cut upon the corn au<l potato 

 vines farther removed from the river: this field, 

 liowever, entirely escaped ihc effect of that frost 

 from the log and humidity arising from the river: 

 it continued green till October, when it had ar- 

 rived at the usual stale of topping, at which 

 time, in the [irospect of iinolher frost, wo direct- 

 ed it to he cut down to the boltinu and slacked. 

 These stacks remained niilil about the 20lli of 

 the nKUith, " hen they were carried in and set 

 ahoiU Ihe barn. So nuich oi' the lot as litis heen 

 husked shows sounder corn lliaii any vvu have 

 this year ; and the whole stalk is left unusually 

 bright to be eaten by the cattle. 



We had another corn field upon the pine plain 

 fu/tber from tlie river — a piece of land the cul- 

 tivation of which we had tried h r experiment. 

 A rye field of last year on which sixteen stout 

 ox-bucks of stable manure were spread to the 

 acre was ploughed to the depth of about eight 

 inches, turning up the yellow sand and some of 

 it gravel that the turned up stumps had bionglit 

 near the surface. The ploughed ground was 

 harrowed once, and upon four acres eight hun- 

 dred bushels of leached ashes were spread : the 

 land was again harrowed, marked off and plant- 

 ed the first week in May. while our old intervale' 

 corn ground was under vvsiter — the hills ;it about 

 three and a half feet distance each way. The 

 corn was up belbre our other corn was planted ; 

 and on the 1st day of June was large enough for 

 the first hoeing : its complexion was a lieantil'ul 

 green, and the rows might he seen the whole 

 length of the field. Kill on the nighl of that 

 first day, a severe frost laid every spear of corn 

 low. A few days after this, ahtint the ]Otli of 

 the month, we planted wliite beans through the 

 field between every bill of corn one way. Re- 

 turning home late in the month of August, we 

 found ilie whole field covered like n mi:t with 

 bean-vines, the pods on which were nearly ripe; 

 nnd the corn oo, except where the frost had cut 

 down to the r ots, was also alive and flourishing. 



and the crop nearly ri|)e. Before the first frost 

 ill Septemlier the beans were pulled and brought 

 green from the field, v\cighiiig from seven to 

 eight tons. The first fiost loiiched the stalks, 

 and in the einl injured all the corn that was not 

 fully ripe; but after the culling of the stalks 

 the field of corn was as handsome iis any field 

 we have seen in the viciniiy. 'I'he beans were 

 pretly well cured by spreading them over the 

 hay mows and fieors on |ioles in two barns. 

 There were, houevcr, some injured in the closer 

 barn, where the green pods and viiiesllaid in too 

 great thickness. '^I'lie crop of corn and lieans 

 together, for sterile pine plain land, was im- 

 mense; and one of our neighbors wondered 

 that the crops were largest on llie land which he 

 had always considered poorest. We will have 

 of the corn tit least forty bushels to the acre ; 

 and if the beans had stood alone they would 

 have heen considered a good crop on such land. 

 If the frost had spared the corn oil the first of 

 June, and no beans hadhecn planted, we believe 

 the corn would have yielded sixty and po.ssibly 

 seventy bushels to the acre. 



VVe helieve the crop of corn would liave been 

 much improved had the whole been cut near the 

 time the beans were pulleil and before the frost, 

 as much of it afterwards touched by ihu frost 

 would have ripened sound in the slack. 



A friend on Connecticut river in Grafton coun- 

 ty had suggested Mr. Diirand's method of cut- 

 ting up the corn ami stacking without lopping ; 

 and this he repiesenled to he the bringing of the 

 gulliered hills around ihe hill left standing- 

 binding with a wisp of straw — the stack stand- 

 ing in safety until llie corn was perfectly cured; 

 when, turning up the stack fi'oui llie bottom and 

 cutting otf ihe sUindiiig stalks of the supporting 

 hill, the bundles are easily taken to the loaded 

 carl. It is our belief thiit the prefijrable mode 

 would he to gallier and stack the corn when the 

 latest perfect ears shall be so far rijiened as to 

 he glazed, iiiid while the stalks are yet partially 

 green — soon after the usual time of topjiing the 

 stalks; and that while the crop of good sound 

 corn will not he less, the cattle feed from the 

 stalks will be decidedly better. 



Our own experience as to the cutting of rye 

 and oats is, that there is great gain in culling 

 early, while the joint of the slalk is yet green : 

 rye especially, well cured, gives fiour almost 

 equal to the best wheat. The crop of oats is 

 not lessened — the qualit)' is rather improved. 

 The straw in all cases is worth innch more for 

 fodder; but particular tittcntion must he paid to 

 the effectual drying and curing before the grain 

 is packed away for threshing — else the grain will 

 suffer essential injury. — Ed. F. M. Visitor. 



A Public W.4lk in a Spa.nish City. — At about 

 seven in the evening "all the world" assendjie on 

 the upper walk. The ladies at first occupying 

 the upper benches, the gentlemen pacing up and 

 down in the centre, and sunning themselves in 

 the bright eyes of the seated heaiilies : but very 

 soon these latter become tired of their repose ; 

 the benches are abandoned, and the walk then 

 becomes .so densely thronged Vv-ilh promeiiadi;rs 

 of both se.xes, that it is a matter of some difficul- 

 ty to steer one's way clear through them. The 

 costume of almost all these pretly loungers is the 

 same — a black silk dress with shorl'sleeves, and 

 long net gloves, a black lace mantilla, a natural 

 rose or carnation at one side of the head, and a 

 large fiin (never in ivpose) in the hand, form the 

 simple ;ind elegant toilette most in vogue. Some 

 few while manillliis are to be seen, but they are 

 not advantageous to complexituis so dnsky as 

 lliose of the Gadilanas. anil are not much in favor. 

 Here and thert! a wonld-he French bonnet and 

 shawl, of some incoiigrous mixini'e of colors, 

 show glaringly in the dark niass of veiled heads, 

 its though purposely to demonstrate that llie gretit 

 secret of a Spanish woman's benny and grace 

 lies in her mantilla, and that, dressed like other 

 women, her personal snperioi ity no longer iis- 

 serls itself; for..it is as true that no Spanish wo- 

 man knows how to put on a honnet, as it is an 

 undisputed fact iliat none but a Spanish woman 

 knows how to wear a mantilla. Keep lliem to 

 tluir natural dress of sable hue from head to foot, 

 and ihey are the most elegant and distingushed- 

 If-.oking race of women that can he imagined ; 

 bullet them run riot among tin; bonnets, feathers 

 and colors (which they have no idea of assorting 



nijudicioiisly.) and they sink to the level of the 

 ill-dressed wmnan of any oilier coiiiiiry. There, 

 is one superiority hovvcver, which they must 

 maintain, lei their dress he what it may, over the 

 women of all oilier nalions; and that is, in iheir 

 walk — that graceful swimming gait peculiar to 

 themselves, which is as happily flee liom the af- 

 fected mincing wriggle of French women, as it 

 is lidiii the awkward, grenadier stride indulgeif 

 in by my coiuilrywomen. There is nothing the- 

 atrical or alii'ctc-d— nothing of what Addismi has 

 termed "recitative dancing" — in the deviarcltr of 

 the Spanish womi'ii : but it combiiK's an inex- 

 pressible grace and harmony of movement, whii-li 

 imparts a charm to them iieyond that of mere 

 beauty — .a something without which beauty is in- 

 complete, and wliicli Virgil has rendered lull jus- 

 tice to, when he caused -Eneas to recognizi- \'e- 

 iiiis — not by the superiority of herliiceaiid Smui, 

 but by her manner of walking: 

 " And by iier w;i!H Ihe Queen oC Lnvc is known." 



Ms. Romtr's ''The flAojic," &,r. 



Finin tfie Siiuthern Planter. 

 Agricultural .aphorisms. 



Annihilate ilie impleuieiils of husbanhv 

 which have hern brought into existence in the 

 course of a few hundred years, and the recollec- 

 tion of their uses, and starvation would be the 

 consequence. So in ;i few hundred years liom 

 this time, the then inhabitants of the earth would 

 starve on the practice of our present system of 

 liusbtindry. 



We are all hoiii in sight of the innunlain of 

 plenty, and all desirous of climhiog toi;.< suniinit : 

 hut let me tell you, that you can only do this by 

 holding on to a plough or hoe handle. If you 

 attempt to climb up by any other means, yon will 

 surely tumble. Me who never attempts to climb 

 up this mountaiii is a brute, he who attains half 

 way, is a man, and he who moui.ts tlie summit, is 

 a liero. 



With him who has "learned enough," I claim 

 no kin; nor will I keep his company. 



Nature works for the agriculturist while he is 

 sleeping; who el.se can claim the boirjit'} 



Equally silly is he who is killing his land to 

 fill his purse, wilh him w-ho killed his goose to 

 get the golden egg. We learn iioi. su much hy 

 our own experience as hy the experience of 

 others; and it is much easier to pr:;cuie this !iy 

 reading than by travelling. 



He who seeks more light ihe liicie he finds, 

 and finds more the niure he seek?, is worihy to 

 be called a sage. 



You never saw a vulgar character disiitlcrcslcil- 

 ly sensible of the value of time. 

 Neatness begets order. 



He who assumes the air of patronage, should 

 know, that, unaltendetl by delicacy, his services 

 are atiioiits. 



Prejudice and conceit are the ofi'sprlngs of ig- 

 norance, and the great barriers to agricultural 

 iinprfivement. 



A cent expended in money or time, in the 

 promulgation of agricullnral knowledge, will add 

 many dollars to the public slocli. 



Those who exert themselves in the diftiisioii 

 of agricultural knowledge, receive the approba- 

 tion of all the real liieiids of their country. 



Nothing injures agriculture inonMhan whimsi- 

 cal novelties; except l.'igoted adherence to olil 

 and bad habits. 



If you treat your land hadly, it will return the 

 compliment. 



Never plant on foul ground to save a plough- 

 ing, or on wet ground to save time. 



The best way to convert tin agricultural bigot, 



is to |)nl good examples before him, tind be silent. 



If we make large cro|is at the exfiense (d' our 



land, it becomes every year more evident that our 



apparent gain is real loss. 



iManure is to a farm w hat daily food is to an 

 animal; it must be procured at any .sacrifice. 



It is necessary often to be reminded of what 

 we already know. 



PouLTiiY Yards. — Every farmer should sup- 

 ply his table with fresh meals from his poultry 

 yard. I}y proper atteniioii it may also be made 

 a source of profits in .idiruion. A yard ol' siiit- 

 iihle size, enclosed with pickets, including a poul- 

 try house, and a supply of fresh water, and n 

 pond to wash in, are indisjiensabie to the suc- 

 cess of raising fine poultry. 



