356 



THE farmers' cabinet 



VOL^ I^ 



From the Farmer and Gardener. 



Work, for June. 



ON THE FAEM. 



The labors of this month are full of inter- 

 est, not only to the fanner, but to every in- 

 dividual in the community, as upon the results 

 of the labors of the husbandman usually per- 

 formed in it, much depends whether the pro- 

 ducts of the earth be plentiful or scarce. This 

 being the case, let us see what they are. 



CORN. 



This will require the most assiduous atten- 

 tion of the cultivator. Where that opera- 

 tion has not already been performed, it must 

 be thinned out, and as transplanted corn an- 

 swers better than that which is reiAanted, we 

 would advise that the superfluous stalks be 

 taken up with care, with as much of the soil 

 attached to them as possible, in order that 

 they may be placed wherever, by the worm 

 or casualty, other stalks may have been de- 

 stroyed. 



The operation of thinning, replanting and 

 transplantino' being over, then conies the du- 

 ties of its future cultivation. The earth 

 must be kept open, and/ree from weeds, if 

 you expect to make a good crop of corn. The 

 mode, therefore, by which these objects are 

 to be attained, becomes an object of deep con- 

 cern. The plough, we have always thought, 

 was too freely and too long used in the cul- 

 ture of this article. We are entirely op- 

 posed to ploughing after the corn has reached 

 sufficient height to have sent out its lateral 

 roots, across the intervening spaces of the 

 furrows, because it is impossible, after that 

 period, to plough without doing incalculable 

 injury to the growing plants, in tlie cutting 

 and destruction of the roots. While the 

 plants are but a few inches high, great bene- 

 fit IS derivable from the use of the plough, 

 for beyond all doubt, pulverization is one of 

 the happiest agents within the use of the 

 agriculturist; but, as we have premised be- 

 fore, it may be carried too far. Afcer the 

 lateral roots branch out to any considerable 

 distance, it is best to use the /larroif) and cid- 

 tivator, these implements both serve to open 

 the soil to the influence of the atmosphere, 

 the sun and weather, without exercising any 

 pernicious effects upon the roots of the plants. 

 The opinion is too generally received as cor- 

 rect, that the working of corn during a 

 drought is the cause of its^rmo-. We be- 

 lieve, that wherever corn Jires after such 

 ploughings, that it may be traced to the cir- 

 cumstance of its roots being cut at a time 

 when there is not moisture enough in the 

 earth to nourish and counteract the deleteri- 

 ous effects resulting from the bleeding of the 

 roots. If the roots be essential to the growth 



of the plant, and all must admit that they are, 

 it is important that they be preserved in their 

 integrity cf form and volume — every portion 

 of them being intended to answer some 

 valuable purpose of extracting or imbibing 

 nutriment from the earth. Deprive an ani- 

 mal of the means of conveying Ibod into the 

 stomach, and death must supersede, and sure- 

 ly it cannot rationally be presumed that if 

 the source of deriving aliment be measurably 

 destroyed, that the vegetable thus injured 

 can flourish in perfect vigor ; on the contrary, 

 in proportion to the extent of injury wiiich 

 the roots may sustain, will be that which the 

 plant suffers, for in the same proportion that 

 you witlihold food from the stalk will its fruit- 

 fulness be decreased. 



Give to eacli hill of corn as early this month 

 as possible, — indeed it should be done when 

 the corn first comes up, — a small portion of 

 spent ashes and plaster. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



This grain should be put in this month, 

 and as the sooner it is done the greater the 

 security there will be that its ripening will 

 not be arrested by untimely frosts. And 

 here let us for once pursuade each of our 

 readers to put in an extra quantity ; we are 

 solicitous upon this head, because we are de- 

 sirous of adding to the quantity of provender 

 for the cattle, and we believe that no better 

 hay can be given to milch cows than that 

 made from the straw of buckwheat. 



POTATOES. 



Dress your ground early, and put in your 

 late potatoes, and recollect that if you would 

 make a good crop you must keep your pota- 

 toes free from weeds, and the earth around 

 them open. 



CUTTING AND CUEING HAY. 



In haymaking bear in mind that the rain 

 should never catch your grass in swarth: 

 that to cure it in the greatest perfection, it 

 should be alike preserved from rain and sun; 

 that the best plan to do this is, after one 

 day's exposure in swarth to the sun, your 

 grass should be put into cocks and turned 

 each day until cured after the dew is off; 

 that your clover should be salted when put 

 away in mow or stacks, and that if alternate 

 layers of clover and straw be placed in the 

 stack, the former will keep better, and the 

 latter prove as acceptable to your stock as 

 hay. 



RUTA BAGA. 



Get in your ruta haqa, if possible, by the 

 10th of the month, and in preparing your 

 ground do not spare either manure, ploughing 

 or harrowing; they can be raised either ia- 

 drills, or broadcast. 



