No. 4. 



Early Corn. — Wlieat Culture. 



127 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Early Corn. 

 Sir,— Presuming that facts in relation to 

 agriculture are acceptable, whether coming 

 from your own vicinity or from abroad, I here 

 state what struck me as rather a remarkable 

 circumstance. Captain Wren, a gentleman 

 of this city, has cultivated for several years a 

 very forward corn in his garden, which seems 

 to improve in this particular every year. This 

 year he planted it between the 25th and 30th 

 April, and on the 1st of August he planted 

 the matured product of this corn in the iden- 

 tical spot where it grew ! and on the 25th of 

 September the second crop was all in silk 

 and tassel, and there is no doubt it was fit for 

 table use any time the last week. Now, had 

 this corn been planted the first instead of the 

 last of April, as is done here in ordinary 

 years, there can be no doubt but that the se- 

 cond crop would have been fit to grind before 

 this time. This gentleman promises to give 

 me some of this corn, and when I come on to 

 your city, I will bring some to show you. 

 Yours, respectfully, E. C. Howard. 

 Richmond, Va., Oct. 14, 1841. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Wheat Culture. 



Assuredly, the time will come, when the 

 proper cultivation of this the commonest crop 

 that is grown, will be better understood than 

 it now seems to be. How many volumes 

 have been written on the single subject of 

 wheat-growing, and yet we are asking for 

 more facts — as though any new light can be 

 thrown on a practice that has been followed 

 for ages, and of which every one deems him- 

 self quite competent to judge the better way ! 

 But is it not passing strange that any one at 

 this time of day can be found to advocate the 

 practice of sowing wheat after wheat, or, 

 which is next worst, wiieat after oats, rely- 

 ing upon a manuring with fresh dung for the 

 renovation of a soil that has been deteriorated 

 by having been deprived of the peculiar pa- 

 bulum necessary to bring that grain to per- 

 fection] But so it is, and thousands still de- 

 clare that they can, by manuring the oat- 

 stubble, communicate all the strength that is 

 necessary for such a consummation. Now 

 the thing appears to me unnatural and irra- 

 tional, and I can easily account for all the 

 complainings that are heard, unless the sea- 

 sons have been the most propitious imagina- 

 ble; showing that the crops are not able to 

 bear up against the common vicissitudes of 

 the climate, but suffer absolute prostration. 

 There are some remarks on this subject in a 

 late number of the Albany Cultivator, which 

 are deserving peculiar regard ; it is there said : 



" The application of manures is a very es- 

 sential point in growing the wheat-crop ; land 



may be too rich as well as too poor for wheat, 

 or rather, the manure in the soil may be in 

 that condition which renders it unsuitable for 

 wheat. There are some crops on which fresh 

 or unfermented manure exercises a good ef- 

 fect, and to which it can scarcely be applied 

 in too large quantities, — corn, for instance — 

 while on others they produce results of the 

 most unfavourable kind ; nearly all the cerea- 

 lim tribe are injured by fresh manures, the 

 stalk growing too vigorous, while the berry 

 is usually imperfect; while compost manures, 

 or such as are composed of layers of turf, 

 stable manures, vegetable mould, lime, &c., 

 in which the decomposition is already effect- 

 ed, can scarcely be applied too abundantly to 

 land otherwise well constituted. One of the 

 greatest evils of direct manuring for the 

 wheat-crop, arises from the liability of the 

 grain so manured to lodge ; the rapid growth 

 of the stem renders it soft and flexible, and 

 unable to support its own weight, and it is 

 found to contain much less silex than that 

 grown in a poorer soil ; the wheat does not 

 perfect its berry, and at all times, from the 

 weakness of its cuticle, is more liable to rust 

 or mildew. The rotation of crops has fur- 

 nished the means of applying fresh manures 

 advantageously to crops, and at the same time 

 retaining its principal value for wheat. The 

 cultivation of corn or roots in alternation with 

 grain crops, clover, &c., gives the farmer the 

 means of greatly increasing his crops, and at 

 the same time constantly improving his soil. 

 It may be considered a settled maxim in ag- 

 riculture, that land improves little or none 

 while nothing is grown on it, and it is the 

 general acknowledgment of this truth that 

 has substituted the hoed or green crops for 

 naked fallows in the preparation of land for 

 wheat; peas and clover are among the best 

 green crops to precede wheat, and the latter 

 may be considered inseparable from the suc- 

 cessful culture of this grain ; but corn would 

 be one of the very best crops to precede 

 wheat, could it in all cases be removed from 

 the land in season for sowing, for the thorough 

 manuring and tilling required for corn puts 

 the land in perfect condition for wheat ; and 

 should experience prove that late-sown wheat 

 is more safe from danger in winter and more 

 productive than that sown earlier, the crop 

 of corn might be then considered as nearly a 

 clear gain." 



On early soils, a full crop of peas might be 

 taken in time for a crop of sugar-beets heavily 

 manured for, and these may be removed in 

 time for a seasonable wheat sowing: this 

 course, with wheat after corn, would go far 

 to insure us crops more rich in grain than in 

 straw, and be the best preparation imaginable 

 for laying to grass, to be sown in the wheat 

 crop in the spring. John Elliott. 



