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THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE AGRI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIETY OF FREDERICKSBURG; 



At their annua! meetino;, cattle show and fair, on the 

 12th of November, 1841. 



By James M. Garne.it, president. 



Brother farmers and planters :—Eav\y in the 

 present year, I had prepared mycelt to make a 

 greater variety of comparative experiments than 

 usual ;— first,"\viih 5 varieties of yellow corn, and 

 4 of while ;— next, with 3 varieties of Irish pota- 

 toes—and lastly, with 12 varieties of turnips: and 

 until late in summer, I had sanguine hopes of 

 being able to report to you some interesting re- 

 sults? But at the critical period of that season, we 

 were visited by one of those excessive droughts 

 to which our climate has become much more 

 liable of late years, than Ibrmerly ; and nearly all 

 my hopes were blasted in a very short time. It 

 furnished me, however, with two facts in regard 

 to corn, which I deem w'orth relating. The first 

 is, that in our climate, the brown corn, so celebrat- 

 ed to the north, begins to tassel and shoot about 

 a week earlier than the Dutton. Both are yel- 

 low- both early, but from the smallness of the 

 ears and grain, they do not appear to me well 

 adapted to our purposes. A variety of yellow 

 corn, called Dutton, has been cultivated in West- 

 moreland, and much approved ; but I am very 

 sure that it cannot be genuine— at least if m ne 

 was so, which 1 procured from the patent office. 

 The other fact ip, that unsuckered corn suffers 

 much more from diought than that which has 

 been suckered, or has not produced any. This 

 opinion was formed Irom the following circum- 

 stance: I had planted two varieties of white corn 

 alongside of some twin-corn ; and had left one j 

 stalk" in a hill— the distance 4^ feet by 2 feet, i 

 There were three rows of each kind, eleven 

 stalks in each, and I had determined not to sucker 

 ihem. Of the two varieties first mentioned, only 

 7 stalks of each kind produced suckers ; but every 

 stalk of the twin-corn, except three, had from 

 one to 4 or 5 suckers on each. Not one sucker 

 of either variety produced even a nubbin, and 

 all the twin-corn began to fire a week or ten days 

 before the stalks of the other kinds, although 

 (here was scarcely any perceptible difference in 

 their tasselling and shooting. Add to this— the 

 ears of the twin-corn were much more imperfect, 

 than on the other two varieties — although all were 

 defective. As a general rule, applicable to most 

 fiirming operations, it is true that the result of a 

 single experiment should not be deemed conclu- 

 sive, either for or against any particular practice ; 

 but in a case such as I have just stated, one trial 

 appears to me as good as a thousand, to prove 

 the correctness of the conclusion deduced from it. 

 If, then, I am right in believing that unsuckered 

 corn will always suffer most from drought, would it 

 not be the safest practice never toomitsuckeiring ; 

 sii\ce by my observation, for twenty years past, 

 we have had many more very dry, bad seasons 

 for corn than good ones. Indeed, I am inclined 

 to believe, that the practice of suckering corn is 

 best at all timf s, for we may say of its origin as 

 of that of the common law, that " the memory 

 of man runneth not to the contrary,'''' and I am so 

 far a friend to ancient usnges, that 1 would never 



abolish them, until they were certainly proved lo 

 be wrong. 



The only one of my corn experiments which I 

 hoped would not be (i-ustrated by the drought 

 was a comparative trial between the twin-corn, 

 and a variety obtained from North Carolina, under 

 the nameot the Garland corn, which bore a high 

 character in the neighborhood where it grew. 

 Both kinds happened to be planted in swamp 

 land, and, as I thought, had suffered very litile. 

 Tlie time of planting — the distance, soil and cul- 

 ture, were precisely the same in regard to both 

 varieties. But, when I came to gather if, such 

 was the clitlerence between the two kinds in their 

 degrees of maturity, and so much had the drought 

 afffcted both, that I determined to make no 

 farther report about them, as it could not be 

 sufficiently accurate to lead to any useful con- 

 clusion. 



1 will take this opportunity to contradict the 

 common opinion in some parlsof our country, that 

 the twin and Baden corn are the same. They 

 are certainly very different at present— at least, 

 in our climate, as I have proved by two compara- 

 tive trials fairly and fully made. In both these, 

 the twin-corn ripcnetl first by 6 or S days, and 

 produced the most. To guard against future 

 mistakes, I would say, that the characteristics 

 of the twin-corn with us, are, a low growth com- 

 pared with 10 or 12 other varieties of large corn, 

 with which. I liave compared it — a thinner and 

 solier shuck — a much smaller cob in proportion 

 to the quantity of grain, which is always very 

 white, and rather flinty — the average number 

 of rows on an ear being about 14. Moreover, it 

 produces less unsound corn than any of the varie- 

 ties with which 1 have tried it, and more fodder, 

 if the suckers are left, of which it throws out a 

 much greater number than any of them. In 

 consequence of its growing less tall, it will bear 

 being planted 6 inches closer in the row. 



Having spoken so favorablj' of the twin-corn, 

 ever since I began to cultivate it, five years ago, 

 I dare say that some of you, my friends, have 

 already concluded that I have made a hobby of 

 it. But, if I know myself, this is really not .the 

 case, for I have no hobbies nor pels in agricul- 

 ture, whatever I may have in other things. In- 

 deed, if ihera is any such thing as " the besV in 

 matters of husbandry, my opinion always has 

 been, that it is so hard to discover, as to justify a 

 farmer in persevering, during his whole life, to 

 search for it by continual experiments — provided 

 he does not make them at two great an expense. 

 And this too, I believe, he ma^' always do with 

 a reasonable hope of deriving such benefit from 

 some ol them as will amply compensate him lor 

 all the time and labor of making them. I beg you, 

 my friends, to think well of this, and should you 

 approve the opinion just expressed, then fail not 

 lo encourage, both in yourselves and others, the 

 dit-position constantly to make experiments on a 

 small and economical scale, in all the branches of 

 your profession. For you may rely upon it, as 

 a thing absolutely certain, that you never will im- 

 prove much in any of them, unless you will pur- 

 sue this course. 



Two causes marred my potato experiment — 

 the drought and the striped bug — ihey entirely 

 destroyed the leaves, not only of potaioes, but of 

 the garden beet ; although both put out freeh ones 



