1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMED 



501 



ground to any extent r the dry weather is the 

 greatest cause of our short crops. We had two 

 small showers this month, about the 3d and 19th, 

 and about tlie same in June and July ; the last 

 shower was the best, and did much for the grow- 

 ing crops and pasturage. I think by deep culti- 

 vation this country would stand the drouth well, 

 and would, perhaps, be much better in very wet 

 seasons. There are some fine lands here that 

 •would be much improved by good draining. This 

 is a fine farming country, the soil is naturally 

 good, and the surface smooth and beautiful, with 

 plenty of running water, and a competency of 

 timber ; fruit-growing seems to be the least suc- 

 cessful of any branch of farm operations. 



The farmers do not generally take enough in- 

 terest in this department ; we have no fruit this 

 year — even the wild fruit was all killed by the 

 June frost. I think this country much less adapt- 

 ed to successful fruit-growing than any of the 

 Eastern or Middle States, but it is worth while 

 to have orchards and fruit trees for their beauty, 

 if a good crop of fruit is less sure than elsewhere. 

 There are some kinds of fruit adapted to almost 

 any country. Thos. A. Jackson. 



Jioscoe, III., Aug. 29, 1859. 



NEW AGRICULTUKAIi PAPBHS. 



If the multiplication of journals devoted to the 

 promotion of Agriculture is evidence of real ag- 

 ricultural progress, there can be no doubt but 

 that our people, in nearly every section of the 

 country, are making rapid and real improvement 

 in the art of tilling the soil. Scarcely a week 

 passes but we are greeted by some new friend 

 with smiling face and comely apparel, v/ho has 

 entered the wide field to labor, help on the great 

 work, and while earning honest bread, to win an 

 honorable fame. We have two of this descrip- 

 tion before us now. They are not only fair to 

 behold, doing credit to the typographic art of 

 the country, but they are filled, generally, with 

 good, sound farming doctrines, and seasonable 

 suggestions. 



The first of these is the Farmer and Gardener, 

 devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture and Rural 

 Aflfairs generally. A. M. Spangler, Editor; 

 published at 633 Market St., Philadelphia. This 

 paper is in quarto form, very handsomely printed 

 and illustrated. The other paper is "Phe West- 

 ern Farmer's Magazine, monthly, by Birdsall 

 Brothers, Chicago, 111. The editor's saluta- 

 tory is a long article upon the topics — 



"What are the farmers of our country ?" 



"AVhat ought they to be ?" 



"How are they to become such ?" 

 and he handles them well. 



We wish both papers great usefulness and 

 success. 



Train Horses to Walk. — The Michigan Far- 

 mer well observes : "A plow-horse should, above 

 all things, be a good walker. The walking gait 



is not cultivated enough in training horses. Only 

 consider what a team that could walk four miles 

 an hour, for ten hours per day, could do towards 

 hurrying through spring work." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HAKVESTING CORN. 



Mr. Editor : — If you are not already tired of 

 publishing articles on the above subject, I will 

 venture to trespass this once upon your patience. 



In the Farmer of August 6, I noticed' a com- 

 munication from "W. M. L.," in reply to "J. 

 Wood," as regards the best plan of harvesting 

 the corn crop. There is a wide difl'erence of 

 opinion between them, as to the best way of doing 

 the work. I respect an honest difference of 

 opinion on any subject. I do not think it is safe 

 to make an assertion, that cannot be carried out 

 in practica. Does he really mean when he says 

 it is "as much work to cut an acre of stalks, bind 

 and shock them, as it is to cut up the same 

 amount of corn at the roots and bind and shock 

 it?" This is virtually saying that he can harvest 

 an acre of corn, grain and all, while another is 

 harvesting the stalks. I should like to take a 

 job of that kind on a wager with him, or any 

 other New Hampshire man, and if I did not come 

 out a little ahead on the "home stretch," why 

 then I would "acknowledge the com," and own 

 myself beaten. Then again, he says, "I know, 

 from my own experience, that corn well secured 

 in the shock will cure as sound and bright as that 

 which is suff"ered to ripen in the butts." From 

 that I respectfully "beg leave to diff'er," and I 

 will presently show the reasons why. 



A few years ago I had occasion to pass along 

 the road by a neighbor's corn-field that had been 

 cut up at the roots and shocked about two weeks 

 previous. Some of it was standing up straight, 

 some leaning, some half way over and some 

 wholly prostrate. Having always had doubts of 

 the policy of harvesting corn in that way, I 

 thought I would satisfy myself by a personal in- 

 spection of it. I selected a shock that had nearly 

 fallen over, and putting my hand into the mid- 

 dle of it drew out an ear and husked it, showing 

 unmistakably its bad condition. The grain was 

 covered with a white mould, and had a pale flab- 

 by look. I came away fully convinced that that 

 was not the best way to harvest corn. It seems 

 to me a little strange, that there are farmers who 

 will deliberately go to work and pai-tly spoil their 

 crops, after a great deal of trouble and expense 

 in raising them ; and when I see corn cut up at 

 the ground and shocked in the field, it reminds 

 me of so many monuments of folly. 



There is a little more in the article of "W. M. 

 L." that I wish to notice. He says, "besides 

 having advantage of his friend Wood in the 

 saving of time and labor, it is a great convenience 

 in having the stalks and butts together. I 

 cannot agree with him in that, for I think it is 

 more convenient to have them separate. He also 

 thinks it an error to let the butts remain stand- 

 ing, because they become hard and dry, and of 

 little value. I think that in raising corn we 

 raise it for the grain, and not for the fodder ; 

 then why not follow nature in part by letting the 

 corn stand ? I can assure any one with entire 



