1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



377 



For the New England Farmer. 



ITEMS FROM IOWA, &c. 



Mr. Editor : — !My last items to you were of 



a greater capacity to endure beating, thus grad- 

 uating mercy, after all. 



Your May number has something to say about 

 climates, &c., and I have always found, in all 



January 21st, and up to that date we had weather places, that the thrifty had a plenty to do at all 

 as remarkable for mildness, as it has been re- seasons ; if not hauling and cutting wood, pitch- 

 markable for its severity, the remainder of the ing hay, &c. The different climates have differ- 

 winter. Our spring is about three weeks later ent products that demand attention in winter — 

 than that of the previous year. We had frag- ' preparing tobacco for market, ginning cotton, 



ments of snow in April. We have had two co- 

 pious rains this spring, and the ground is tol- 

 erably well saturated. 



Winter wheat never looked more promising 

 here, and from reports, I judge the crop is un- 

 usually promising throughout the western States 



hulling rice, making sugar and molasses, and 

 preparing the ground for the next crop. This, I 

 presume, was calculated for a busy world, and a 

 little experience suggests that the comforts of 

 climate are more nearly equalized than is gene- 

 rally supposed. Southern winters are generally 



Probably there has been an unusual quantity of I delightful ; but even there, where there is no 



spring wheat sown. Judging from present indi- 

 cations, there is every hope that there will be an 

 abundance of food at lower prices than the present. 



There is now a fair promise of a good crop of 

 fruit, of every description. Even peaches, in 

 some locations, promise a feast. Since the above 

 was written, we have had two severe frosts, on 

 the 8th and 9th of May, which, perhaps, have 

 taken a few facts from my calculations on fruit. 

 However, of that I may report hereafter. 



Corn is one of our staple crops — in fact, it is 

 the reliable crop, failing last year as an excep- 

 tion. The mode of cultivation of corn here may 

 be new to some of your new subscribers. Plow- 

 ing is usually done with horses — a good span 

 plowing about two acres per day. It is then 

 furrowed off with a small plow, about three and 

 a half to four feet between furrows, then crossed 

 with furrows at right angles. The corn is dropped 

 at the crossings, and usually covered with a hoe, 

 though frequently with a horse and shovel plow, 

 or some other similar implement. When the 

 corn becomes large enough to be worked, it is 

 plowed both ways of the rows until about the 

 first of July, then the corn is left to its own care, 

 and wheat harvest demands the attention of "all 

 hands." Seldom is a hoe in a corn-field after 

 planting. A man and ahorse can usually "tend" 

 from twenty to thirty acres of corn, usually yield- 

 ing from forty to sixty bushels p»r acre. About 

 September, corn enough for fodder for stock is 

 cut and put in shock ; the remainder remains in 

 the field and is "shucked" at leisure, from No- 

 vember to January. A two horse wagon passes 

 along the rows, and the corn, as it is "shucked," 

 is thrown into the wagon and conveyed to the 

 corn-crib, which is frequently nothing but a rail- 

 pen. Sod ground is seldom planted to corn. 

 The same ground is frequently planted year after 

 year in corn, without manuring. Let no one 

 suppose that there are no weeds in the virgin 

 soil. It is full of them — more rampant than in 

 New England, and would destroy any corn crop 

 if not subdued. Better culture would raise more 

 corn, but it is a question whether it would pay 

 at past prices. 



It would amuse a Yankee teamster to see a 

 western man drive an ox team, sitting, usually, 

 on the wagon, with a long lash and a cracker at- 

 tached to a long pole, wielded with both hands, 

 almost constantly lashing and crocking his team, 

 accompanied by a generous cxpenliture of breath, 

 and often trotting liis unioadci team like stage 



piercing cold, the system is sometimes chilled, 

 shivering and torpid. If the South has delight- 

 ful winters, the North has delightful summers. 



In all warm climates, noxious insects have a 

 longer season of multiplication, and, without ex- 

 perience, you can hardly appreciate the absence 

 of musquetoes, fleas, gauze-winged fleas, &c., &c. 

 A feverish patient never longed for a cooling 

 draught more than I have, in a warm climate, 

 for one summer night's rest, such as I have had 

 in New England climate, such as you all gene- 

 rally have — refreshing sleep. 



It is said that Zeuxis, the celebrated painter of 

 Athens, when required to paint a model of beauty, 

 chose six of the handsomest ladies of the city, 

 that he might select the peculiar beauty of each 

 to combine in one Helen. If we could select the 

 desired portions of the year of a half a dozen 

 climates to make one, even then we would proba- 

 bly croak a little, by dint of habit. And if one 

 climate alone possessed all the advantages, that 

 alone would be inhabited, and we would quarrel 

 for elbow room. 



"xi Reader," who reviewed the Monthly for 

 jNIarch, expressed a desire for a few more items 

 from "Nemo," before "the shakes should carry 

 him from gay to grave, and never bring him back 

 again." "The shakes!" What terror in that 

 word ! "Distance lends" magnitude to the word. 

 When you are right among "the shakes," they 

 are a mere trifle — a bad dream — nothing after it 

 is over. It is only freezing a little too cold, and 

 thawing a little too hot — a little periodic variety, 

 that can be stopped when you are tired of it. 

 From ten to twenty grains of quinine, taken after 

 the dream is past, is sure death on the shakes, 

 only they are a leetle hydra-like. I ought to 

 know, "I'm experienced." I've tried it on my- 

 self a hundred times, and it never failed. I keep 

 quinine "constantly on hand," and b'^gin to like 

 it. No Maine law against my bitters. 



Burlinc/ton, Iowa, May 25, 1855. Nemo. 



HOEING IN DRY WEATHER. 



Experience has fully established the fact that 

 corn, and other crops, arc essentially benefited 

 by hoeing in dry weather, but the reason why, or 

 the manner how it is done, is not so generally 

 understood. That moisture is formed by stirring 

 the dry particles of earth and changing their rel- 

 ative positions, is generally admitted. 



Water is composed of oxygen and nitrogen, 

 horses. Oxen are presumed to 1)0 less deserving I These sul)stances are also contained in different 

 mercy than horses — perhaps because they have | proportions, in the earth and atmosphere, and 



