1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



63 



original owner is dead — still lives. It was orig- 

 inated several years ago, and shown at the Mass. 

 Hort. Society, when their rooms were in Tremont 

 street, and named by the Society, in honor of its 

 originator. Until within the last five years it has 

 attracted but little attention. "We understood 

 that they are ripened with difficulty in the 

 open air." A greater mistake could not have 

 been made, and I am surprised that any Commit- 

 tee that had had any experiences or associated 

 with those Avho had, or even read the reports of 

 the different Agricultural and Horticultural Soci- 

 eites, should ever prepare such a statement for the 

 press. The great merit of this variety is in 

 its early ripening, — a fortnight at least before 

 the Isabella, and four weeks before the Catawba. 

 The greatest grape grower of Massachusetts says 

 it will be fifty years before we get a grape supe- 

 rior to the Diana, that it will ripen when the Is- 

 abella wili fail. I will not accuse the committee 

 of making this wrong statement for any selfish or 

 ■wrong motives, nor am I disposed to find fault 

 with their report merely for the sake of finding 

 fault, but because I saw that such a report was 

 calculated to do mischief by leading people as- 

 tray. I think it will be hard to find a better 

 hardy grape, or one that ripens earlier. 



Newton Centre, j. f. c. h. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LIME-SALT-THE CORN CHOP. 



Messrs. Editors : — I have read something of 

 Prof. Mapes' ideas of using salt as a manure in 

 connection with lime. The lime is to be slaked 

 with a solution of common salt, and to be used 

 for sowing broadcast with oats, etc. We wish to 

 know whether this manure "will pay" when 

 litoe costs $3,00 per tierce and salt 5s. per bush- 

 el. Also we want to know how much of the 

 preparation "will pay" to lay on an acre, and, 

 also,Avhy it will not answer to apply it to the hill 

 for corn ? I have tried the old fashioned method 

 of raising corn, and raised from 25 to 40 bushels 

 to the acre, until I think I can improve the crop 

 by improving the method of cultivation. The 

 following is the plan I propose "doing the corn 

 business" next year. I have a piece of land with 

 a smooth, rolling surface, and moderate southern 

 slope. The soil is somewhat sandy, light, with 

 heavy clay l)ottom ; it has been plowed usually 

 4 inches in depth, and the crops taken oflf since 

 the "memorj- of the oldest inhabitant;" conse- 

 quently tlic surflico was nearly exhausted to the 

 depth of four inches when I plowed the field two 

 years ago, manured broadcast with about 25 

 loads to the acre, and planted to corn, produ(;ing 

 a fair yield. Last year it was manured In-oad- 

 cast and pl<jwcd in, producing a very heavy crop 

 of oats. About 10 loads to the acre were plowed 

 in for the oats. On this piece I propose raising 

 corn next year. I shall spread and plow in (t(,'n 

 inches deep) 40 or 50 loads of stable manure to 

 the acre, harrow well and plow again crosswise ; 

 harrow again, and strike the furrows 3 feet 

 apart and about 8 or 10 inches deep, then cross- 

 furrow the same depth. Then take a bag of 

 guano (Peruvian) on one side, and a bag of seed- 

 corn on the other ; Avith a lioe I will fill the fur- 

 rows where they cross each otlier ; mix a little of 

 the guano with the soil, and plant my corn. 



About the second or third hoeing I will put in- 

 to each hill a spoonful or more of guano and hoe 

 it in. I have always put a portion of my man- 

 ure into the hill, sometimes as much or more 

 than I spread before plowing. My corn has al- 

 ways been remarkably thrifty, until about time 

 for the ears to form, when the plant would seem 

 to want sustenance to finish its work, conse- 

 quently I would get a full growth of "fodder" 

 and a moderate yield of corn. I think the com 

 plant is benefited by the manure in the hill dur- 

 ing the time its stalks are growing, say in May, 

 June and July, when the periphery of the feed- 

 ing roots extend far beyond the circumference of 

 the hill leaving few feeding roots near the centre 

 of the base of the plant. Now it is not to be won- 

 dered at if the manure is chiefly placed in the hill, 

 that the plant should be thrifty wliile the extrem- 

 ities of the roots are working their way through 

 the hill ; nor is it any more strange that the ear- 

 ing should be moderate when their supplies are 

 furnished by roots which have extended their 

 feeders far and Avide, until their extremities meet 

 and mingle with the roots of neighboring hills. 

 The fulness of the ear and kernel must in a great 

 measure depend upon the supply of nourishment 

 found by the roots after they have extended from 

 the hill. If the manure be mostly spread and 

 plowed in, we expect that it benefits the crop 

 most when it is most needed, viz. : when it is 

 forming the kernel. 



The corn crop draws the base of its support 

 from the ground ; its roots extend wide and deep ; 

 their microscopic filaments absorb only the moist 

 minute particles of nourishment which pass 

 along the vessels undergoing cliymification and 

 chylification, a complete process of digestion, un- 

 til it is fitted and entirely adapted to invigorate 

 the system that has taken it. It converts the 

 gross particles of the earth into sugar for the 

 stalk and milk for the seed. . 



Chemically viewed, the coi'n plant is a labora- 

 tory compared to which Prof. Mapes' is but a 

 shadow. Its crucibles are self-formed from its 

 germ ; its furnace the glorious sun ; its material 

 elicited from the gross matters that compose the 

 crust of the earth itself ; its experiments always 

 successful, and its product what no human art 

 can equal — a golden ear of corn. 



Physically, it may be compared to the human 

 digestion, first dissolving its food, then separating 

 its chyme and chyle, and conducting the refined 

 matter along various channels and tlirough vari- 

 ous organs, eliminating all the secretions neces- 

 sary to it8 own growth until it is lodged in such 

 parts, where it is needed to ibrm and sustain the 

 perfect man. 



The growth of the stock is of less consequence 

 tlian the production of the ear. The stock is 

 mostly formed wiien the sujiplies are largely 

 drawn from the hill, and the ear when the mate- 

 rial is gained mostly from tlie adj.ii-eut soil, in the 

 latter part of July, August and e.irly in Septem- 

 ber. 



Tiie largest grovvtli of stocks is not necessary 

 to the greatest production of corn, yet it is nec- 

 essary to get a certain amount of vigorous stock 

 in a healtliy and thrifty st;ite, wlien the ears 

 sot and the fall feeding is to commence to form 

 the kernel. If an adequate siijiply of nourish- " 

 ment is placed within reach of the plant at the 



