864 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 21, IS.T + . 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 THE CULTIVATION OP INDIAN COKN. 



Although Indian corn is the most important 

 crop with which we occupy our land, it is the 

 very one which receives the poorest management. 

 Not a season passes which does not afford me fre- 

 quent opportunity for observing the inexcusably 

 negligent manner In which farmers cultivate then- 

 corn. They (a majority of them) begin wrong, 

 continue wrong, and as u matter of course, end 

 wrong. In other words ihey do not plough" well, 

 plant well, nor hoe well, and under such circum- 

 stances, how can it be expected that they will re- 

 ceive a large crop? It is too often the case that 

 farmers entertain the idea that any person is com- 

 petent to plough who is large and stout enough to 

 hold on to the tiandles of a plough ; hence the 

 mistaken yet frequent practice of setting hoys and 

 stupid careless men to plough a rugged field to re- 

 ceive a crop of corn. There is scarcely a princi- 

 ple in the whole routine of farming operations, 

 more directly opposed to the interests of the far- 

 mer, than that it is not necessary to perform this 

 operation in the best manner possible. There is 

 another idea loo common among farmers, and 

 which is almost or quite as fatal as the former, viz. 

 that any one who is stout enough to lift a hoe, is 

 qualified to plant coin ; and a third notion, which 

 caps the climax of error, is, that if the ground is 

 so managed, as to keep the weeds from actually 

 biding the corn, it is sufficient. Such mistaken, 

 inconsistent and delusive ideas, are cherished by 

 hundreds ami thousands of our farmers. It is this 

 system of slack management, running through 

 their whole plan of operations, which keeps so 

 many farmers poor. Thorough work is the best 

 mono lor the farmer. Thus much by way of pre- 

 liminary, and now for my own practice. 1 do not 



however, enter ii| a detail of my own plan of 



operations with thfe idea that it is better than all 

 others, but simply with the honest motive, that 

 there are some who will find hints contained in it 

 which "ill benefit them. 



My first step towards raising a crop of corn is, 

 to remove from my Held all obstacles to the plough, 

 by which I am enabled to make, with a certain 

 prospect of success, my Second step, viz: 



Ploughing— which i perform with a good stout 

 yoke of oxen, and a well shaped cast iron plough. 

 The management of the plough 1 do not entrust to 

 others, when circumstances will allow of my at- 

 tending io it myself— for 1 find that I cannot hire 

 my ploughing done so well as 1 can do it myself, 

 and in performing the operation, 1 spare no pains 

 nor lime, to do it as "ell as.it can be done. 1 

 make it a point to have every inch of sod inverted, 

 and if from any circumstance this cannot be done 

 with the plough, 1 immediately slop my team ami 

 do it with my hands. Do not start at this, broth- 

 er fanner I but remeinlier that it is not possible for 

 you lo have your ground loo well ploughed lor 

 any crop. If you cannot plough hut little a day, 

 plough that well, for it is quicker and easier to 

 plough than to hoe. 



Rolling. — This I do with a roller six feet long 

 by twenty or twenty-four inches thick, made ol 

 solid white oak timber. By going over the ground 

 with a roller as heavy as such a one necessarily 

 must be, in the same direction as that in which h 

 was ploughed, it is put In a fine slate of prepara- 

 tion for the next and a very important operation. 



Harrowing — which I perform with a heavy four 

 square (as it is commonly called) barrow, contain- 



ing twenty slender, sharp iron teeth, steel point- 

 ed. I make it a rule to barrow until my ground 

 is very mellow, without any regard to the length 

 of time which may be required in order to accom- 

 plish this object. 



Marking out — I do with four chains, fastened 

 with one end on a pole, three feet apart, which 

 pole is supported and drawn by two men (one at 

 each end) across the field in a different direction 

 from that which was last taken by the harrow. 



Planting. — Before planting my corn, I wet it 

 With soap, and then roll it in plaster. I obtain 

 the most careful men I can find for assisting me in 

 planting — make it my rule to put my seed on mel- 

 low earth, all lumps being kept out of the way, 

 and none being drawn over the seed, which I cov- 

 er lightly with line earth. 



First hoeing. — As a preparation for this impor- 

 tant operation, I enter the field with my cultiva- 

 tor, passing it through the corn twice in a place 

 both ways. This leaves the ground very mellow, 

 and in excellent condition for hoeing. I suffer rio 

 weed's to be buried in the hill, but have them all 

 carefully pulled out. If the earth above the plants 

 is baked, I leave it displaced, and substitute thai 

 which is uic How. 



Second hoeing. — It is common among farmers, 

 even those who have a cultivator, (and every far- 

 mer should have one,) to use a plough to prepare 

 their ground for a second hoeing. I have done so 

 myself until the last year. I had two fields plan- 

 led with corn. I prepared one of them for the 

 second hoeing with the plough. When about t< 

 enter the other, I thought of trying the cultivator,* 

 doubling however, whether the experiment would 

 he a successful one, for the corn was then two lei I 

 or more high. But after some hesitation, I hitched 

 my horse to my cultivator and went at it, and 

 more complete, satisfactory success I could not 

 have wished for. There was less corn broken 

 down than would have been with the plough, and 

 the s.al was lefl entirely unbroken ; the ground as 

 mellow as a garden bed. In my second hoeing I 

 leave the ground as level as possible, taking care 

 not to make a hill about the plants, so that then 

 roots may be left to shoot along horizontally netii 

 the surface of the earth, and get to themselves tin 

 heat of the sun as soon and as direct as possible. 



Harvesting. — This I do by cutting up at the rool 

 as soon as the corn is glazed ; make a bundle con- 

 taining eight bills, and a stook containing eiglii 

 bundles, bound very tight around the top with one 

 band. 



After planting and before the corn conies out of 

 the ground, 1 strew over the ground about half a 

 bushel of cent to every three acres, or a bushel to 

 six. The birds will pick up this coin, and in >l 

 meddle with that which is growing. If the birds 

 are numerous and hungry it may be necessary to 

 sow the field a second time. The year hefon 

 last I suffered very much from having the birds 

 pull my corn ; last year I tried the experiment ol 

 sowing corn over my field, and bad not a single 

 plant pulled up afterwards. It is cheaper to give 

 the birds a bushel of corn, than to have Ihem pub 

 what would produce 25 or 50 bushels, which iluv 

 often do, and have done for me. I have found in 

 scarecrow so effectual for the protection of young 

 corn, as to feed the birds with as much as tbey 

 will eat. 



* I wjsb those who have never tried ilu colli valor lei ih 

 second bpeing would Uo so. 1 have no duuln ol Lheif success. 



I plaster my coin after the tiisi hoeing. 



I came near forgetting one thing, viz : tire 

 amount of seed used. Last season I followed 

 Judge Buel's advice, and put into each bill from 

 six lo eight kernels. At the first hoeing 1 sent one 

 person ahead to pull out all the plants hut the 

 four healthiest ones in each hill. The consequence 

 was, that throughout my field there was rarely a 

 hill which had not its stout four stalks. I would 

 strongly recommend ibis plan to others. 



And now, Messrs. Editors, I have made out n 

 long glory about raising corn. Whether it is worth 

 publishing yon may judge. 



Respectfully, &c. \V. P. W. 



Milton, Saratoga Co. Feb. 1, 1834. 



From the Maine Fanner. 

 CANADA THISTLE. 



As the season has now arrived, when most peo- 

 ple are commencing breaking up their gardens, I 

 lake the liberty to trouble you with a few lines on 

 the subject of the Canada Thistle, and the meth- 

 od I adopted to extinguish them from my garden. 

 Some years since I purchased a piece of land in 

 ibis town, and erected my dwelling house on the 

 north side of the road, and about four rods distant 

 therefrom, intending to have my garden for my 

 vegetables in front of my house, and between that 

 and my house. lint after 1 had broke up the 

 ground and planted it with potatoes, I found 1 bad 

 -elected my garden spot completely in a bed of 

 Thistles. The more the ground was stirred, the 

 more the Thistles increased. I was very loalh to 

 be disappointed in improving that same ground as 

 my garden spot. A thought occurred io my mind 

 lli.it by having the ground well dug up and broke 

 to pieces very fine, with a long tyind fork, the 

 roois id' the thisiles might be extracted from the 

 earth, so as to leave hut very few in the ground. 

 Accordingly the next spring, I procured a fork 

 made wiih four tynes, about ten inches long, and 

 die fork about one foot wide. Willi this instru- 

 ment I commenced digging up my garrii u, and as 

 1 Hug up the ground, I pulverized the lumps, and 

 left the roots of the thisiles on the top of ihe 

 ground, where in a very short time, ihey began to 

 wilt, and I had no further trouble with them. — 

 Thus by this mode of process yearly, I have en- 

 tirely eradicated them from my garden. 



North Dixmont. 



.Yorth Dixmont, April 23, 1834. 



INJURY TO FKl'IT TREES PROM MICE. 

 WhjlE on this subject I will say, I have lost 

 many valuable trees, both in my nursery and young 

 oiehanls, say one thousand, by the noted severe 

 winter ; and, ibis is not all : I have suffered the 

 loss of hundreds by the depredations of mice. I 

 have ploughed my ground partly with the view to 

 ward off this evil; but they have lodged under the 

 furrow, and have occasionally walked into my nur- 

 se rv . and destroyed many of my trees the past 

 winter. My loss w ithiu a lew years at least is £500. 

 This way of losing properly is very aggravating. 

 h seems to he loo much to hear Willi, from such 

 a race of insignificant beings, without hope id' rem- 

 edy, (an ill. re he no means devised to conquer 

 and destroy ibis mischievous race, within the limits 

 id' reasonable expense ? Our nation suffers the loss 

 of millions id' dollars annually, by ihese enemies ; 

 nil yet there seems to be no inquiry as to auy 

 means of destroy ing them. — Northern Furmer. 



