40 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



and moderately fertile soil, has also given us, to 

 make uj) for our hot, dry summer, and scanty 

 herbage, the omni precious Indian corn. The 

 potato rot in Ireland could hardly produce a 

 greater famine there, than a total failure of the 

 Indian corn crop in America. As the potato in 

 Ireland, is the tartilla of Central and South 

 America — the corn bread and hoe cake south of 

 the Potomac, and in the great west. Destroy the 

 •orn crop of the South, and you strike at the life 

 of man and beast there. 



As more than 77 per cent, of the grain of In- 

 dian corn is a fat forming element, and the 

 whole bulk of the stalks and leaves are a nutri- 

 tious fodder for cattle, I can hardly conceive the 

 possibility that there is a farmer in Seneca coun- 

 ty so obtuse to his own interests — so dead to the 

 great lessons which nature teaches him — as to 

 neglect, in our climate, the culture of Indian 

 <X)rn. Corn is a gross feeder, no matter how 

 gross the manure, if well worked into the soil, 

 the crop revels in its decomposition. Not so 

 with wheat ; crude manure often enfeebles the 

 stalk by a forced growth, and diminishes the 

 . grain. Yet the wheat fallow is always well tilled, 

 and in season, while the field of Indian corn is 

 generally neglected. It is the Cinderilla in our 

 family agriculture. 'Tis true that on the great 

 bottoms of the western rivers corn may be grown 

 comparatively without labor ; but on our com- 

 pact soils every farmer can, by the aid of crude 

 manures, or vegetable matter, so far ameliorate 

 a few acres, as to get the maximum yield, at a 

 Tery little more expense than on the unhealthy 

 western bottoms. As to a bad corn season, in 

 our climate, I have often heard it complained of, 

 but it certainly has never existed in fact, for the 

 last twenty years, in this county ! In our gar- 

 dens, at least, corn laughs at a drought, and sur- 

 plus water is never known there. 



MULDER, LIEBIG, AND PETZHOLDT. 



Some of the disciples of Mulder demur stoutly 

 to the doctrine of Liebig, that the atmosphere, 

 alone, can furnish ammonia sufficient for the 

 nutrition of plants. In proof of it, they quote 

 Liebig, to prove that a pound of rain-water con- 

 tains but one-fourth of a grain of ammonia ; 

 hence, say they, the minute quantity in the air 

 above a field of grain must be far from sufficient 

 fo supply nitrogen to the growing plants. 



I would ask, are not ttie nightly dews much 

 richer in nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, than 

 rain-water ? Mulder's theory, that ammonia in 

 the soil serves as a medium to fix the oxygen of 

 the air into putrifying substances, proves no 

 more against the aerial nutrition of plants, than 

 does Petzholdt's theory, that the importance of 

 the ammonia, and carbonic acid, from decompos- 

 ing matter in the soil, is " nothing compared to 

 the value of the inorganic product, fixed in the 

 same soil by the same matter, when thoroughly 

 Jecomposed." 



I take it that the one theory may be reconciled 

 with the other, well enough for every practical 

 farming purpose, since both writers advise the 

 husbanding of manures, with a view to the saving 

 of all their constituents, organic and inorganic. 

 I, myself, cannot but feel that Petzholdt goes a 

 little too far. 



But apropos of dew : at New Utretch, on 

 Long Island, last fall, I asked a farmer how he 

 was enabled to grow his fine crop of Indian 

 corn ■? "I hoe it early in the morning," said 

 he, "before the dew is ofi"." The only reason 

 this man could give for so wise a practice, was 

 that his father did so before him. I felt no wish 

 to substitute philosophy in the mind of this sim- 

 ple man, for that faith in tradition which has 

 done him such a service ! S.- W. 



Waterloo, Jan. 9, 1846. 



Circular. 



Civil Secretary's Office, ? 

 Montreal, Dec. 27, 1845. J 



Ed. Genesee Fakmer — Sir: Her Britannic 

 Majesty's Government, being desirous of obtain- 

 ing authentic information relative to the disease 

 which this year has attacked the Potato crop in 

 Ireland, and other parts of the United Kingdom, 

 and which is understood to have first made its 

 appearance in North America, I am directed 

 by His Excellency the Administrator of the 

 Government of this Province, to request thatyou 

 will, as soon as may be consistent with the object 

 in view, return to me answers to the following 

 queries. 



\st. Were the Potatoes in your country gene- 

 rally attacked by a disease which destroyed or 

 impaired the substance of the root, in either of 

 the years 1843, 4, or 5? 



2d. Did the Potatoes which were sound, when 

 dug up, remain sound, and were any means of 

 avoiding the corruption of the root, afler it had 

 bad been taken out of the ground, found effec- 

 tual? 



"Ad. Was it found thatPotatoes and other Vege- 

 tables or Grains planted in ground where disea- 

 sed Potatoes had been grown, were attacked by 

 the same disease ? 



4/'/i. Were any means of preventing the re- 

 currence of the Potato disease in successive 

 years found effectual ? 



I have the honor to be, Sir, 



Your most obedient, humble serv't, 



J. M. HiGGINSON. 



Will not some of our readers answer the 

 above inquiries ? — Ed. 



Onondaga Cut Stone. — We observe that Mr. 

 Robhins, 100 Bufialo st. is agent, in this city, for 

 this stone — which is quite ecjual, if not superior, 

 to any other in market. Many prefer it to the 

 Lockport stone. They can be brought here by 

 railroad during the winter — a fact which enables 

 the agent to meet all orders promptly. — Dem. 



