190 



Stock — On the culture of Rut a Baga. 



Vol. II. 



The ashes of the stalk contains a large 

 proportion of alkali. 



2. Of the husks a very beautiful paper is 

 made in Italy. 



3. The cob may be ground, and with or 

 without the grain, used to fatten cattle. An 



■oil is also extracted ironi the cob. 



4. The grain is used as food for man and 

 cattle. 



It also yields oil : — " The oil of Indian corn 

 is used in Cincinnati as a substitute for sperm 

 or whale oil. It is said to produce an equal 

 quantity of light, to be quite as transparent, 

 and free from disagreeable odour, in addition 

 to which, it is not subject to freezing, having 

 resisted the greatest cold during the present 

 season — say 6° below zero. The yield of 

 'Cil is said to be half a gallon to the bushel, 

 without destroying the qualities of the grain 

 for distillation." — Penn. Inq. 



5. It also yields spirit. My Kentucky 

 correspondent informs me that he has known 

 four gallons of high proof spirit to be distilled 

 from a single bushel of corn, of the yellow 

 variety, spangled with red ; the seed of which 

 came from Hunterdon County, New Jersey 



The late Peter Miner, of Albemarle coun- 

 ty, Virginia, made some experiments, of which 

 the following have been communicated: He 

 had ten bushels of meal of the corn and cob 

 ground together, weighing 367 pounds, and 

 ten bushels of pure corn meal, subjected to 

 the process of distillation ; and the result was, 

 eighteen gallons of spirit from tlie latter, and 

 thirteen from the former. Now if the corn 

 corbs had been destitute of all value, the pro- 

 duct of the former, estimating the quantity of 

 pure corn meal ai five bushels, (which is the 

 general rule, to allow one half in the bulk to 

 the cobs,) ought to have been nine gallons 

 only ; but thirteen having been obtained, four 

 of them must have been extracted from the 

 cobs. 



some not bo well. I have never attempted a 

 crop of turneps that would not have cleared 

 me $25 per acre. Some years the crop has 

 cleared over $100 per acre. 



I propose to give you the result of 1^ acres 

 that I have raised this yeflr. The field was 

 wheat stubble, timbered land, which was not 

 ploughed for the wheat crop; the soil a 

 black sand mixed with loom. The piece 

 was ploughed in the spring, and left until the 

 first week in June; it was then ploughe({ 

 and harrowed, the roots, &c. cleaned from the 

 ground, and four ounces of seed sown broad 

 cast and well harrowed. Afler they got into 

 the rough leaf, they were thinned and cleaned 

 from weeds. This is all the cultivation, with 

 the exception of a few hours in August, pull- 

 ing weeds around stumps, &c. 

 The result was, I gathered 800 bush- 

 els, at 15 cts. $120 00 

 Dr. to expence preparing groRnd, and 



$6 00 



4 50 



5 00 



sowmg. 



Dr. to 4^ days weeding and thinning, 

 ' 6^ days gathering, 



$15 50 

 The nett proceeds of 1} acres of 



land, $104 50 



No farmer would be wise in selling tur- 

 neps at the price stated above. I count them 

 equal to corn in the ear, that is, a bushel of 

 turneps are equal to a bushel of ears of corn. 



On tlie Culture of Ruta Baga. 



As the ruta baga and all other root crops are 

 gaining especially in this country, I will give 

 you the result of my experience. I have 

 raised the ruta baga more or less for seven 

 years past. My usual way has been to sow 

 on new timbered land without ploughing. I 

 have succeeded some years admirably, and 



indeed all well informed white persons, suspect- 

 ed her of having secretly stripped the plants of 

 all the male flowers before the female ones were 

 impregnated. 



The point of this story will readily be perceived 

 by the intelligent agriculturist, viz.: that if they 

 wish to cultivate Indian corn ior foddor alone, or 

 for making sugar, they can deprive it of the 

 power of going to ear, and make it throw all the 

 jaices into the stalks and leaves. 



E^xpcriment in tlie Cvilture of Carrotsa 



I want to say a few words on raismg Car- 

 rots, as this year is my first experiment. A 

 friend of mine last winter was advising me 

 to sow some carrots. I\om his experience 

 he believed he could raise more carrots than 

 turneps from the same land, and he believed 

 they were worth more. Being a friend to 

 the ruta baga, I was slow to believe the car- 

 rot could be made as profitable. He suc- 

 ceeded in getting me to promise to sow an acre 

 by his giving me the seed. I sowed about 

 3-8ths of an acre in the same field where I 

 sowed my turneps the year before, I sowed 

 about the 10th of May. I had so little faith 

 in tiie crop, I would not sow more than half 

 the seed my friend gave me. I gave what 

 1 had left to one of my neighbors. My car- 

 rots came up very well, but I was so faithless in 

 the crop that 1 neglected them until after I 

 had hoed my corn. I examined them, and 

 thought it not worth while to weed them, 

 but I was overpersuaded by my hired man. 

 We spent nearly'four days work in hoeing 

 them — the weeds had got such a start that we 

 destroyed the carrots altogether on one third 

 of the piece. This is all the cultivation 

 they had. This fall, to my astonishment, on 

 gathering them, I found I had a little more 

 than 200 bushels. It was not uncommon to 



