VOL,. XVI. NO. 9. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



67 



(From the Alhany Cultivator.) 

 ON STEEPIIVG SEED CORN. 



Cedar Brook, Plainfield, Essex \ 

 Co. JV. /., .1/rri/ 27, 1837. ) 



J. BuEL, Esq. — Dear Sir: Having cluserl my 

 iiisiness in tliR city of New York, I last year piii- 

 rhased a farm in litis place, about one linndrecl 

 icres of vvliich is very iiniforni in quality, nearly 

 I smooth gentle declining |ilain to tlie south, ex- 

 ;(^pt where Cedar Brook pas.-es through it from 

 lorth to south, which is a remarkable stream for 

 ts purity, periwanency and uniformity of teniper- 

 ure, not freezing when the thermometer is ten 

 legrees below zero. The soil is uniforndy a dark 

 jrown loam, in some parts mingled with pebble 

 itones, from si.\ to eight inches deep, none too 

 iioist ; the subsoil is dark yellow and tenacious, 

 rom nine to twelve inches deep, vvith a prepon- 

 lerance of alumina, resting on loose gravel, sev- 

 ii-al feet in depth. I have thus briefly descrilreil 

 he soil, as I think always oughl to be done, when 

 ixperiments and facts are stated for public tise. 



I commenced taking several useful publications 

 )n agriculture, none of which 1 esteem more val- 

 lable than the Cultivator. Not getting pnsses- 

 ;ion of my farm until late in the season, I did lit- 

 le the past year. To hasten the vegetation of my 

 !orn, planted after the middle of May, I endeav- 

 )red to follow the recommendation of soaking and 

 treparing the seed, and about one hiilf oidy ger- 

 jiinated. About the fiist of June, I replanted ; 

 lad a great growth of stalks, but the corn from 

 he latter planting was all cut off by the fros', be- 

 bre it was at maturity. ) attrTi>uted the failure 

 o a long cold storm, while the gram was in the 

 ;arth. Having this year about twenty acres that 

 Kid been twice mowed, ami after being seeded 

 ivilh clover and timothy, 1 spread upon about half, 

 wenty loads of good manure to an acre. It was 

 hen well ploughed, rolled and harrowed twice, 

 •aising a fine mellow soil. My seed corn, mostly 

 jf the Jersey white, was selected with great care, 

 ind soaked in water over night, with five spoons- 

 'tiloftarto a bushel of seed, at about 130 of heat, 

 Alien the water was applied. In the morning it 

 ^as drained and sprinkl 'd with ashes and plaster, 

 ind generally planted the same day. We com- 

 iienceil the first week in this month, and finished 

 u about eight days, the weather being very fine 

 or the season. At the end of two weeks, not one 

 ieed in twenty had gernnnated, except a few rows 

 tianted directly frotn the cob, which came up 

 ivell. We planted about half an acre of the large 

 ;iglit rowed Connecticut yellow, about half an 

 icre of the Dutton, half an acre of golden Sioux, 

 md several small pieces of various kinds for trial, 

 rhe Dutton and Sioux have vegetated the best. 

 ^Vhere we spread no manure, we added about a 

 spoonful of ashes and plaster to every hill we 

 danted, and perceive no difference in germina- 

 ting. We have replanted about four acres with 

 Iry seed, and calculate to gn over the whole, 

 :hough probably the crop will be nearly a total 

 Pailure, if we have early frosts. 



I have been thus jiarticular in what I have rfonc, 

 ;hat others may guard against my mistakes. Be- 

 ng well satisfied that the failure has been o^ing 

 ;o the preparation of the seed, as the rows planted 

 jnpiepared, have come up well, and my neigh- 

 t)ors planted about the same time, the same kind 

 jf seed, on similar land, which has come up re- 

 markably well,. 1 shall be greatl^f obliged for 



your free opinion of the cause of my want of si;c- 

 cess. I am making some experiments on recom- 

 mendations, which are yet to be tested. 1 am, 

 however, satisfied that more attention is requisite 

 in descrijitions of location and soil, by those who 

 give recommendations for the public. 



I would beg leave to request your correspon- 

 dents to give their names, the state and place of 

 their resitlence, that inquiries may be made of 

 them by mail. There have been some I should 

 have written to, had I known where to address 

 them. 1 am, witli great respect, yours, &c. 



David L. Douge. 



Remark. — Our practice, for sixteen years, has 

 been to stee|) our seed corn in the manner we 

 have recommended, diiisolving half a pint of crude 

 sait-petre in the steP|) — imd the seed has never 

 failed to grow — except in one case, where a part 

 of the corn, after steeping, was left exposed a day 

 or two to the sun, by accident. That which was 

 planted immediately from the stee|), grew well — 

 that wliitdi was exposed did not do well. — Editor 

 Cultivator, 



Eaton, Mass., July 1S37. 

 To the Editor of the Jltlas : 



I send yon an account of my success last year 

 in keeping hens, and will thank you to publish 

 it, to let people know how many eggs ;i hen lays 

 in a year. I have heard much speculation on the 

 subject, and last year I kept an account, which is 

 as follows : 



On the first of January, 1836, I had ten hen.i, 

 and one good crower. In the sjiring, I sufi'ered 

 three of them to go through the process of incu- 

 bation, which left me seven to make my experi- 

 ment upon. The throe which raised chickens, 

 gave me twenty-four in number, which I sold for 

 a shilling each, when they were about the size of 

 quails. The sooner you sell chickens the better, 

 for they will not bringbut 2 or 3 cents more when 

 full grown, than when half grown. 



When the year was out, on the first of last 

 January, I looked over my account, and found 

 my seven hens had given nie ninety-six dozen 

 of eggs, which were sold for Sl5 91. What we 

 had used in the family, made the whole quantity 

 one hundred and ten dozen. Tiie lowest price 

 1 sold any for, was 13 cents per dozen — and the 

 highest was -25 cents. I have asked many farmers 

 to guess the number, but they always came short 

 of it. 



They asked me what I gave them to make them 

 so prolific. 1 inquired how they treated theirs, 

 what they gave them to eat, and where they 

 rested at night. They told me that they let 

 them rest in barns or on ajiple trees — not giving 

 much except what they can [tick np around the 

 house and barn. They think warm dough will 

 freeze in their crops, and kill them in cold wea- 

 ther. 



Now I'll tell you how I keep the hens. I cause 

 a good house to be built for them in the south 

 side of a hill, and stone it up so warm that an egg 

 will scarcely ever freeze. During half the time 

 in the winter, I give the hens boiled potatoes and 

 bran or meal, mixed together with warm water. 

 1 never lost any hens in consequence of dough 

 freezing in their crops ; if they have a good warm 

 house to set in, dough will not hurt them &ny 

 more than warm cakes will a man. For the 



remainder of the time, I gave them oats instead 

 of corn. I have bought oats in Boston for sev- 

 enty cents a bushel, while corn was, at the same 

 time, one dollar and ten cents, and tried the hens 

 on the oats and then on the corn. Before feeil- 

 ing the hens, I would let the oats soak in warm 

 water for three or four hours, till they get well 

 swelled, and iti this way I found that a bushel of 

 oats would go as far as a bushel and a half of 

 corn ; thus in using oats instead of corn I saved 

 95 cents on every bushel consumed. 



Hens will dust themselves every day when they 

 can get dry dirt. In winter, when they cannot, 

 I jilace a large, box of coal-|iit dust in their house 

 and keep it dry, so that it ctinnot freeze ; this an- 

 swers every purpose. 



Hens shotilil never be kept netir cattle, for their 

 vermin will esca|)e to the cattle, and prevent tlieiu 

 frotn growing fat. 



I preserve all the pieces of white earthen ware 

 that I can find, and when the ground is covered 

 with snow, I pulverize it anil give it to them. [ 

 find they will eat it in prijferencfi to corn. Water 

 is alwtiys placed within their reach. 



Last year, according to the best of my calcu- 

 lation, the eost of keeping iny ten hens was $9. 

 I sold the eggs to the amount of 815 91 cents, and 

 chickens to that of .94— leaving a net profit in 

 ooe season of $10 91. Besides this, 11 dozen of 

 esro-s, worth a shilling a dozen, were used in the 

 family. ' 



Nutmeg, in largo doses, is virulent poison. The 

 writer has witnessed the effects of it in two in- 

 stances. The first case last spring— the second 

 last evening. The first was a young married lady 

 of rather feeble health. The second was a young 

 unmarried lady of a perfectly sound constitution, 

 and sound health. The first ate one whole nut- 

 meg the second one and a half — to use her own 



language, " good l-at ones." 



Symptoms. — Sudden and alarming agitation of 

 the nervous system— nutnbness of the tongue and 



face intolerable distress in the eyes — described 



as a sensation of whirling or violent twisting — 

 death-like sickness at the stomach, and faintness, 

 intolerable vertigo, ringing in the ears — and the 

 most intense mental agony. The stomach is ren- 

 dered almost perfectly insensible to the action of 

 the most stimulating emetics. This is a very im- 

 perfect sketch, but enough has been said to warn 

 the reader to be careful how he eats nutmegs in 

 large quantities. Cloves, oil of peppermint, spear- 

 m:iit, tansey, &c., taken in large doses, are often 

 attended vvith di.sastrous consequences. W. 



Portland, Aug. 18, 1837. Porlland Alv. 



Tomatoes.— The following, says Gen. Dear- 

 born, is an excellent metho.l for preserving the 

 toma-o, which does not at all alter the <iuality of 

 this fruit, and does not require the action of any 



heat : 



A sufficient quantity of salt is dissolved in 

 spring or river water, to make it strong enough 

 to beai an egg; select perfectly ripe tomatoes, 

 and pack them well without pressing them, in a 

 stone or glazed earthen pot, which is to be filled 

 with the brine, cover the pot with a deep plate, 

 in such a manner that it presses upon the fruit, 

 and~by this simple process, tomatoes may be pre- 

 served more than a year without attention. Be- 

 fore cooking, they should be soaked lu fresh wa- 

 t;r for several hours. 



