172 Indian Corn, Broadcast — Letter of John Jones, of Gum Bush. Vol. X. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 liidian Corn Sown Broadcast. 



The cultivation of Indian corn sown broad- 

 cast, as a substitute for grass or hay, having 

 been mentioned in the last number of the 

 Farmers' Cabinet, I thought it might be 

 useful to some of your readers, to refer them 

 to two articles on the subject, in that useful 

 miscellany, the American Museum, long 

 since published by the late Mathew Carey. 



The first is by Mr. St. John de Crevecoeur, 

 Consul for Louis XVI., at New York, before 

 tiie French revolution; see vol. 2nd, p. 449. 

 The second is by the late A. C. Duplaine, 

 vol. 9th, p. 253. This last gentleman was also 

 French Consul in Philadelphia, but in the com- 

 mencement of the J>ench revolution, and 

 made his experiment, as he told me, in a 

 lot in Kensington, to his entire satisfaction, 

 nbout ihe year 1790. He also informed me, 

 that Samuel Powell, then President of "The 

 Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agricul- 

 ture," having heard of his experiment, paid 

 him a visit in company with Timothy Pick- 

 ering, then Secretary, — and the first one of 

 the Society. J. M. 



Philadelphia, Dec. 19th, 1845. 



Letter of John Jones of Gum Bush. 



The following letter from St. George's Hundred, 

 Newcastle county, Del., is taken from the Transac- 

 tions just published, of the Agricultural Society ofi 

 that county, and will be read with interest on account 

 of its straight forward, matter of-fact, business like 

 character. The writer is well known in Delaware, 

 and by the readers of the Cabinet, as one of our most 

 enterprising farmers — and we cannot but wish that his 

 success may equal his energy. — Ed. 



To the Committee on Farmx of tlie New Castle. Co. 

 Agricultural Society. 



Gentlemen, — In competing for the valu- 

 able premium offered by the Society for the 

 best farm, taking into consideration the 

 former and present condition of said farm, I 

 proceed to give as correct a statement as my 

 memory and a few notes taken from time to 

 time will permit. 



On the 4th of March, 1834, I removed to 

 Wheatland, which I had purchased of J. A. 

 Bayard, on a credit of ten years, in 1832. 

 This part of the farm, which contained about 

 360 acres, is situated on Bohemia Manor, 

 partly in St. George's Hundred, New Castle 

 county, and partly — about 30 acres — in Ce- 

 cil county, Maryland. It was very poor at 

 that time, having always been rented, frorn 

 the first settlement of the country — which, 

 by the grave-stone of the original proprie- 

 tor, Augustine Herman, was in 1669 — till 

 the time of my purchase. 



Wheatland, previous to my purchase, con- 

 tained 524 acres, nearly all of which uas 

 tillable, there being no wood or other watte 

 land upon the farm. It had always been 

 worked upon the three-field system, one of 

 which was planted with corn; wheat was 

 then sown in the standing corn after the 

 fodder had been gathered, then after the 

 wheat came off the stubble was pastured 

 one year, without having any clover or other 

 grass seed sown; the next year it was again 

 planted with corn, and so on, v^nth that im- 

 poverishing course; for which a fixed rent 

 was demanded of 700 bushels of corn and 

 125 bushels of wheat — no oats were allowed 

 to be sown. The 700 bushels of corn, at the 

 present price of 40 cents per bushel, would 

 amount to !jfi280 ; the 125 bushels of wheat, 

 at the present price, 90 cents, would be 

 .S112 50; together, .^-892 50, and this for 

 the farm before any was sold off; but reduce 

 it to the ratio of tlie present size of the farm, 

 say about one-third off, and you have a rent 

 of !^260, oit of which the repairs were to 

 be paid. Such was the exhausted state of 

 the land, that it scarcely paid six per cent. — 

 after deducting for repairs — on S4100, the 

 amount of purchase money that I was charged 

 with. 



For several years I got but poor returns 

 for my labour, not having the means or en- 

 ergy to improve, till 1837. In that year I 

 concluded to run my face, and make an effort 

 towards improvement with lime, and up to 

 1839, I had put on about 12,000 bushels, at 

 a cost at the kilns of 20 to 22 cents per 

 bushel. By 1840, I had seen and felt the 

 good effects of the lime, and determined to 

 complete the first dressing of all my arable 

 lands, as well as my Cote Brilliant Farm — 

 [better known as Gum Bush — of 380 acres, 

 jvv'hich I had also purchased at a credit for 

 less than tS^8 per acre, and was situated near 

 1 by, as Wheatland, my homestead. In tliat 

 jycar— 1840— I purchnsed 10,000 bushels oi 

 I lime at a cost of 17 cents per bushel, deliv- 

 jercd at the landing of the canal, distant 

 about four miles from the farm.s. Here I 

 again had to run my face, but this time I 

 went to the lime burners on Schuylkill, 

 where I would advise all honest Delawarians 

 J that have not Imied, to go at once, for to this 

 day honest Delaware faces are in good re- 

 Ipute there. They are no repudiators. And 

 while on the subject of lime, I will state that 

 'one lime burner, William Mogee, has sold 

 in New Castle county, within the last six 

 months, 145,000 bushels of lime, of which 

 90,000 bushels have been delivered. 



Previous to 1840 I had sown clover and 

 other grass seeds pretty freely, one year as 

 much as 45 bushels, and the same year I 



