THE f ARMEilS' REGISTER. 



651 



the public interests, the people are willing to con- 

 tinue to bear all the evils they have long sudertul 

 and will still more sutier, I'rom this inifjuitous and 

 fraudulent system 1 If so, indeed, then we have 

 nothino' to do but submit, in common with all 

 others, to be thus oppressed through all future 

 time. But, while there remains a hope for suc- 

 Cessliil resistance to this tyranny of avarice, moral 

 *raud, and legalized swindling, we will be among 

 those who will struggle to throw off the yoke, 

 even if the impending consequences of such 

 emancipation were ten times as costly in a pecu- 

 niary point of view as they are asserted to be by 

 the predictions of bank advocates, and apologists 

 for banking frauds. 



EXPERIMENT OF PT-ANTING CORN WITH ONE 

 OR MORE STALKS AT A PLACE. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Louisa Co., Va. September 4, 1841. 



***** 



While my pen is in hand I will give you the 

 details of an experiment in planting corn which 

 I made in 1839. It may be of some interest 

 to your readers. 



My object was to ascertain how the product of 

 the crop is affected by the mode of planting: 

 as, with only a sini^le stalk in a hill, or with more. 

 A piece of land of good quality, and pretty well 

 manured, I laid off' by stakes in straight rows or 

 drills 5 feet apart. Thirty of these rows of equal 

 length, were divided into three parcels of 10 rows 

 each. One of these parcels, 1 planted wiih a sin- 

 gle stalk in a hill, the hills being placed one and a 

 hair feet apart in the drill ; one with two stalks in 

 a hill, the hills three leet apart in the drill ; and 

 the other with three stalks in a hill, the hills four 

 and a half feet apart in ihe drill. By this arrange- 

 ment it will at once be perceived that each parcel, 

 occupying exactly the same space of ground, 

 (which was just a quarter of an acre,) had pre- 

 cisely the same number ol stalks of corn on it — the 

 only difference between them being in the mode of 

 planting; viz., one with one stalk, one with two, 

 and the other with three stalks in a hill. The 

 distances between the hills were taken by mea- 

 sure ; the whole lot was planted at the same time, 

 wiih the same variety of corn, cultivated alike, 

 and harvested alike, and the product of each par- 

 cel, carefully kept to itself, was as follows: 

 No. 1., one stalk in a hill, the hills one and a half 



feet apart, 14^ bushels. 

 No. 2., two stalks in a hill, the hills three feet 



apart, 16^ bushels. 

 No. 3., three stalks in a hill, the hills four and a 



half feet apart, \i^ bushels. 



Thus it would appear, that on such land as I 

 experimented on, corn is more productive with 

 two stalks in a hill, than with either one stalk or 

 with three ; and that there is no difference in pro- 

 duct between that with one etalk in a hill and that 

 with three. 



My lot of three-fourths of an acre produced 45 

 bushels, or at the rate of 60 bushels per acre 



while the quarter of an acre which was planted 

 Willi two stalkp in a hill, produced 16.^ husheld, or 

 at the rale ol 66 bushels to the acre, lieing a clear 

 giiin of 6 bushels to the acre, merely lium Ihe 

 inotie of planting— a most important and vnliiable 

 gain truly. There were some stalks missing in 

 each parcel, but 1 thought not more in one than in 

 iinoilicr; and though there may have been some 

 shade of difference in the quality ol' the soil, or of 

 the manure applied to it, I did not perceive any. 

 1 thought the experiment was (as it was intended 

 to be) a very fair one. I was induced to make it 

 from reading in the Register a very valuable arti- 

 cle on the culiivalion of corn, from the pen of Mr. 

 William P. Taylor of Caroline, He advanced 

 the opinion, as the result of his experience and ob- 

 servation, that corn produces more when planted 

 with two stalks in a hill than with one. Knowing 

 that his experience and intelligence entitled his opi- 

 nions to great respect, and having myself observed 

 that one corn-maker of my ac(]uainiance, who al- 

 ways plants wiih two stalks in a hill, (to save hoe 

 work, which it does to a considerable extent,) ge- 

 nerally made better crops than his neighfiors, I 

 thought it would be well to test it by accurate ex- 

 periment. The result tends to confirm Mr. Tay- 

 lor's opinion. The corn which I planted was a 

 variety of the twin-eared prolific corn, and the 

 .-eason was a good one. The conniion opinion in 

 ihis part of the country is in liivor of planting wiih 

 a single sialk in a hill ; and I know it is in aeneral' 

 unsafe to trust to a single experiment, or to ihe- 

 opinions of a few, in opposition to Ihe common 

 o[)inion of the world, founded on general expe- 

 rience ; but so few accurate experiments have 

 been made on this subject, that I have not hesi- 

 tated to rely on Mr. Taylor's opinion, confirmed 

 by my own experiment and observation; and I 

 now plant my corn wiih two stalks in a hill, and 

 recommend it lo others to do the same. It cer- 

 tainly saves labor in planting, and weeding with 

 the hoe, and I think there is a gain in the product 

 of the crop. 



Should this meet the eye of any who have made 

 experiments on the same subject. I hope they will 

 give the results through the Register. 



The wheat crop in this region gives scarcely 

 half the usual product. Corn, which was back- 

 ward and indifferent in the early part of the sea- 

 son, now promises about its usual return. To- 

 bacco, though later in starting to grow off than 

 usual, is now doing v/ell, and, if it escapes an early 

 frost, may make a lair crop. The oats never were 

 worse. John Z. Holladay. 



SOIL PROPER FOR THE VINE. 



From Hoare's Cultivation of the Vine. 

 One of the principal causes of grapes not ripen- 

 ing well on open walls in this country is the great 

 depth of mould in which the roots of vines are 

 suffered to run, which, enticing them to penetrate 

 in search of food below the influence of the sun's 

 rays, supplies them wiih too great a quantity of 

 moisture ; vegetation is thereby carried on till lat& 

 in the summer, in consequence of which ihe ripen- 

 ing process does not commence till the declination 

 of the sun becomes too rapid to afford a sufliciency 

 of heat to perfect the fiuit. To prevent this, the 



