No. 3. 



Cullure and Manufacture of Silk. 



39 



2. When corn is cut up, and the stalks 

 secured in the best manner that they can be, 

 it rarely fails that some of them get down, and 

 thus both the corn and stalks are damaged by 

 exposure to the weather. If it were not so, 

 the large huts and stems of the stalks are of 

 little value for fodder, tor no sort of stock 

 will eat them, unless compelled to it by dire 

 starvation. 



3. If the stalks be left standing in the field, 

 cattle wU consume quite as great a portion 

 of them in the field after the corn is gathered, 

 as they would if they had been cut and 

 gathered to the barn. 



4. As materials for dung, stalks cannot be 

 disposed of to better advantage, than to be 

 allowed to remain where they grew, and there 

 be mixed with the soil, as is usually done by 

 subsequent tillage. 



5. Cutting up and securing a well grown 

 crop of corn, is a heavy and toilsome labor, 

 involving, together with the subsequent in 

 gathering of the stalks, no trifling item of 

 expense. 



If these things be true, is it, in general, 

 good practice to cut up corn at all ? In times 

 of threatened scarcity of winter feed for stock, 

 it may be, and probably is, wise and prudent 

 to do it, in the vicinity of cities and large 

 villages, where fodder commands high prices. 



In agitating the question thus far, we have 

 supposed that the stalks, if they were cut and 

 gathered to the barn, were to be given to 

 stock, without further cutting, or any other 

 preparation. In the case of farmers who have 

 good cutting apparatus to prepare their stalks 

 for the use of animals, the question may as- 

 sume an entirely varied aspect. 



With a few occasional exception?, our 

 practice for several years has been, to let our 

 corn remain unmolested, until the time of 

 harvesting it. Sometimes we have cut up 

 and gathered the stalks after the corn has 

 been separated from them. This, when corn 

 is harvested early, can be done to advantage, 

 and if cutting be practiced at all, we think 

 this is the better way. More generally we 

 have left our stalks to be depastured in the 

 fields where they grew. 



The advantages of practicing as we have 

 done, are supposed to consist, 1st. In a greater 

 quantity and quality of corn. 2d. In exemp- 

 tion from much toilsome and expensive labor. 



The only loss known to result from tliis 

 practice, consists in the inferior quality of the 

 stalk to be consumed as fodder. It does not 

 appear that, as to quantity, there is any loss, 

 for cattle will consume as great a portion of 

 the stalks, while depasturing in the field, as 

 they would if they had been cut, as is usually 

 practised, and given out in the barn-yard. 

 Neither does it appear that any thing is lost 

 in connection with the economy of manures. 



Or if there be any loss in this article, cer- 

 tainly it is very small. 



We offer these remarks for the considera- 

 tion of farmers. The question is, are the ad- 

 vantages which, in ordinary cases, result from 

 cutting up corn while yet in a state of imper- 

 fect maturity, sufficient to balance the dam- 

 ages which it does to the crop, and the ex- 

 penses of doing it"! 



Hitherto we have said nothing relative to 

 the practice of topping cornstalks, which for- 

 merly prevailed almost universally and pre- 

 vails now to some extent. The economy of 

 this practice has been the subject of so many 

 experiments, and so much light in regard to 

 it has of late been gained and disseminated 

 in the public journals, that it seems scarcely 

 necessary to reagitate the subject. By many 

 well conducted experiments, it has been 

 proved most conclusively, that topping the 

 stalks of corn, while as green as to be worth 

 topping, essentially injures the crop, often 

 causing a reduction equal to one-fiflh of its 

 value. Among enlightened fanners, the prac- 

 tice of topping has fallen into general disre- 

 pute, and as it is most clearly an unprofitable 

 practice, it should be entirely abandoned. 

 Dan Bradley. 



Marcellus, Aug. 1827. 



Culture and Manufacture of .Silk* 



In the cultivation of the Mulberry and the 

 rearing of the silk worm, there are no diffi- 

 culties which cannot be over-come with very 

 little study and observation. So simple and 

 easy is the management of the worm, that 

 children can readily be taught to give it all 

 the assistance and attention necessary to its 

 comfort and the completion of its labors. We 

 reared the silk worm ourselffor three years, 

 when a boy, and we can truly say that it was 

 the most amusing employment we were ever 

 engaged . in. We have ever reverted to the 

 time, as the most pleasant of. our childhood. 

 From two trees that were planted when the 

 Mulberry was first introduced into New Eng- 

 land, we reared from five to six thousand 

 worms of a season, and without any of the 

 knowledge which is to be obtained from books 

 of foreign writers on the subject, or of the 

 practical information which has been sent 

 forth to the American public within the past 

 few years. Our own experience induces us 

 to advise all those who are fond of innocent, 

 pleasant, and at the same time profitable em- 

 ployment, to turn their attention to the cul- 

 ture of the Mulberry and the rearing of the 

 silk worm. Our climate and soil are well 

 adapted to the business, and those who en- 

 gage in it will be abundantly rewarded for 

 their labors. — Calhoun county Patriot, 



