92 



GENESEE FARMER. 



April. 



I'or the Gcncsoc^ rarmer. 



Experiment in Growing Potatoes. 



Mr. Editor — Sir: I wish to state tlie result 

 of a small experiment, and ask a few questions. 

 In planting potatoes, last spring, I set apart four 

 short rows of equal length. First row, applied 

 spent tan bark, a common iron shovel full to 

 three hills. Second row, leaches ashes, a shovel 

 full to four hills. Third row, plaster, a handfull 

 10 two hills. Fourth row, nothing. 



On digging the following was the result: — 

 Those witli bark, 75 lbs. ; ashes, 67; plaster, 62 5 

 with nothing, 61. 



The field from which the above rows were ta- 

 ken was full of the white grubs, and many of the 

 potatoes injured. There were some in almost 

 every hill, exce])t where the bark was applied, 

 in which row I found but two. V'ariety — round 

 Pink-eye, one potato in a hill. Soil — sandy loam. 



First question I wish to ask is concerning a 

 matter of every day occurrence. How should 

 corn be measured in the ear? I have seen it 

 done in two ways. Sometimes it is carefully 

 placed in tlie half-bushel or baket, with the hands ; 

 at other times thrown in promiscuously with the 

 scoop-schovel : two bushels of ears for one of 

 shelled. Now, in using a small measure there 

 is manifestly a difference. Equal and exact jus- 

 tice to all men is my motto. 



What is a corn barxel, how large is it, and 

 how made ? 



How may the common black ant be destroyed 

 in an orchard 1 I have an orchard in v^^hich 

 there is a nest of them at the root of every tree. 

 It has alternately been plowed, planted, hoed, 

 sowed, cradled, and mowed, for the last seven or 

 eight years. An answer to the questions, and a 

 notice of the experiment, are solicited in the 

 Farmer. Thomas Wright. 



Rush, N. Y., Feh., 1846. 



Remarks. — If tan bark will destroy or keep 

 away "grubs" from potatoes and other ])lants, 

 tlie fact is important. If Mr. Wright will shell 

 a-bushel of corn as the article usually is when 

 harvested, and then dry it thoroughly for many 

 weeks, it will skrink about 22 per cent in bulk. 

 Hence, when a man tells the exact truth in re- 

 gard to the number of bushels of even shelled 

 corn harvested, you must discount one fifth for 

 shrinkage in ordinary cases. 



A "barrel," to ntcasure corn in, is equal in 

 size to a common flour l)arrel. For handling 

 corn in the ear it is used instead of a basket at 

 the South and Southwest, with pieces of ropes 

 tied into the staves for handels. On the Missis- 

 sippi river, (where the corn trade is immense,) 

 a barz'el of ears is shelled and measured accurate- 

 ly, and from that the grain in 1000 barrels, or 

 any other number, is calculated. 



We regret that we cannot prescribe a remedy 

 for the ravages of the "black ant." We venture 

 to suggest, however, the free use of leached ash- 



es, mixed with quicklime, to be placed around 

 the trees. Tliis compound will greatly benefit 

 the fruit, as well as the trees, if it does not drive 

 off the ants. 



Michigan Subsoil Plow. 



Mr. Editor : — Having had tliree years expe- 

 rience with the Michigan Subsoil or Trench 

 Plow, I feel it my dut}^ to give to the public, 

 through your paper, the result of my experience, 

 and, if possible, show the superiority of its work 

 over all other plows. To those who have not 

 seen the plow I will state, that it is two plows on 

 one beam, one running behind the other, and 

 from three to five inches deeper, bringing up the 

 sub or under soil and laying it on the top of the 

 turf turned under. I plow with it from 7 to 11 

 inches deep, depending on the nature of the soil — 

 loam and sand requii-ing the deepest plowing. — 

 When I purchased the plow I supposed I should 

 only plow turf land with it, but now I use no oth- 

 er. I find it equally advantageous in turning 

 under stubble as turf. I plow but once for any 

 crop. Last spring I turned up 20 acres of turf, 

 sowed part to peas and part to barley ; took off 

 the crop ; and plowed again in August and sowed 

 to wheat. I found my land in a better condition 

 than to have summer fallowed, and I got an in- 

 creased crop of barley and peas. You may pas- 

 ture up to the time of sowing, or mow, if your 

 land is strong enough to bear it. I have prac- 

 ticed it with better success than with an ordinary 

 summer fallow. Crops stand either a wet or dry 

 season much better than with an ordinary plow. 

 In a wet season it drains the water off more ef- 

 fectually, and much quicker, and the surface soil 

 is not deadened by stagnant water, and giving 

 greater depth of soil in a dry season the roots 

 run deeper, and the plant bears up longer. It 

 covers turf so effectually that the land appears 

 like an old field, and the earth lying over the 

 sod retains all the gasses arising from the decom- 

 position of vegetable matter turned under, while 

 with light plowing much of it passes olfin the at- 

 mosphere, and is lost. It is a great preventive 

 against June grass, and other obnoxious weeds ; 

 it covers them so deep the crop always gets the 

 start of them, and a few times plowing will clean 

 tlie land. 



With spring wheat I liavc been equally suc- 

 cesful. I plow in the fall, either turf or stubble 

 land, and sow early in the spring, without plow^ 

 ing. I am so well pleased with it that I would 

 not have my land plowed with any other plow, 

 if it could be done for nothing. No farmer 

 would do without one, if he knew what they are. 

 Any person can have a plow by addressing a 

 line to the subscriber, directed to Darien Centre, 

 Genesee Co., N. Y. Alva Jeffersox. 



Darien, March 19, 1846. 



Every farmer should be a permanent subscri- 

 ber to a good agricultural journal. 



