298 



THE PARMKRS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



Indian corn ought always to be planted, if 

 possible, in the month of April, Experience has 

 fully proved that the old rule of plantinj^ from 

 the first to the tenth of May is a bad one. 

 Early planted corn, fares best in time ofdrouth, 

 and is much less likely to be injured by frost 

 in the fall. 



Cart out your manure and spread it on 

 your corn field. This is much better for 

 the corn, and better for the crop of rye or 

 wheat that ought to follow it, than to allow 

 the manure to remain and rot in the barn yard. 

 It is a very poor plan to manure corn in the 

 hill. 



Let your manure be well covered and the 

 ground rolled or harrowed before planting. 

 Take care in tending the corn not to disturb 

 the manure or the sod. Use the plough 

 sparingly and plough shallow ; the cultivator 

 is much to be preferred. There is no danger 

 of harrowing too much. Don't hill up the 

 corn ; the more flat and even your surface 

 the better. 



Always steep your seed before planting, 

 this will make it start sooner and will gene- 

 rally save it from the worms and from birds; 

 if properly done you will not want a scare 

 crow ; a week solution of salt petre is very 

 good ; but the preparation recommended by 

 the most successful growers of corn is the 

 following. 



First pour on your seed corn hot water, 

 nearly ready to boil, and let it soak all night. 

 Then put about a pint of tar and a quart or 

 two of water into an iron pot or dish, and 

 heat and stir it till the tar is thoroughly incor- 

 porated with the water, pour this mi.xture 

 on the corn, having first drained it pretty 

 dry, stir it well together and let it stand an 

 hour or two. Take the corn out of the tar 

 water and roll it in dry ashes, plaster, or 

 dry slacked lime, so that it will plant con- 

 veniently. 



Plant as soon after ploughing as you can, 

 andjalways put the corn into moist earth, tread- 

 ing down the hill with the feet or pressing it 

 bard with the hoe. Do not plant very deep. 

 Put six or seven grains in each hill ; this will 

 not require more than half a peck per acre of 

 extra seed, which will be repaid more than 

 ten fold, by having the proper number of stalks 

 in every hill. At the first hoeing, let the 

 plants be reduced to the proper number, the 

 least thrifty being pulled up. The number 

 that ought to remain in each hill, will depend 

 on the soil and on the kind of corn raised. 

 Four are not too many for low growing corn, 

 in ground well manured. 



Do not top or strip your corn ; as soon as the 

 grains begin to set hard, and while the stalk 

 is still green, say the first of September or 

 even earlier, pull or cut it all up by the roots. 

 .Tye it up in small shocks or stacks and it 



will ripen better than if lopped, and it will 

 all make excellent fodder. AH the corn stalks 

 should be fed out in the early part of winter 

 in the barn yard, they make good manure, or 

 what perhapg is still better, cut up yourstalks 

 in a cutting box and steam or soak them before 

 feeding. By manuring your corn ground well 

 with coarse manure well ploughed in, and 

 cutting up your stalks early, you may have 

 good crops of corn, winter grain and grass. 

 You will get the most benefit from your 

 manure and your fields will be cleaner of 

 weeds. Agriculturist. 



Deerfield, March 27, 1837. 



From the CuUivalor. 

 Farm Accounts^Prodacts of a Farm* 



J. BuEL, Esq. 



•■ Sir, — Having been a constant reader of 

 your valuable paper from its commencement, 

 and having been amused and instructed from 

 the perusal of it, especially from original com- 

 munications upon practical farming,statement8 

 of products, &c. ; and having heard a gentle- 

 man in an agricultural address in this county 

 some years since say, " It is time that farmers 

 leave oft' guessing, and attend to their business 

 systematically, that they may know their 

 income," &c. — I have once or twice since, 

 began to keep an account of the products of 

 my farm, but have failed to go through the 

 year. This year I began early in the season,, 

 and have kept an account of the principal 

 articles produced, and their estimate at about 

 the common market price in this vicinity. 

 But as I am a Yankee, I must be allowed the 

 privilege of " guessing" at a part. The reason 

 of my communicating to you the result of my 

 labors, is not that I expect that I have out- 

 done every body else, for I believe that many 

 farmers in this region, have produced more 

 from the same number of acres than I have, 

 as some of my crops were very poor ; my or- 

 chard and a few thousand silk worms, almost 

 wholly failed. But I have thought that the 

 publication of the products of farms might in- 

 fluence some of those who occupy land, and 

 farm by guess, to use more exertion; and 

 may probably induce some young men to turn 

 their minds from the fancied pains of specu- 

 lation to the slow, but substantial, income of 

 good farming. And in this way, and no other, 

 can we compare our own advantages of loca- 

 tion with our brethren at a distance. And 

 since there is such an itching desire for re- 

 moval and the praries of the west, it would 

 be well for many of them to know that they 

 are well situated. 



My farm contains about 150 acres of land. 

 1 improve about 100 acres, the remainder ia 

 in wood ; some of the land has been cleared 

 of wood thirty-five years, and farmed without 



