THE FARMERS' CARINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. II.-No. 14.] 



Philaclelpliia, March 15, 1838. 



Wliole No. 38. 



PUBLISHED BY JOHN LIBBY, 

 No. 45 North Sixth Street, Pliiladelphia, 



Above Arch Street, 



AT ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR. 



Indiau Corn. 



The following communication was read to the 

 Philadelphia Agricultural Society, February 21^ 

 1838, and directed to be published in the Farm- 

 ers' Cabinet. 



Of all the kinds of grain raised in the Uni- 

 ted States, Indian corn is the most valuable, 

 taking into view the quantity and the price 

 per bushel, and it has been a subject of much 

 solicitude for some years past, that the early 

 frosts have done such extensive injury to it ; 

 diminishing the crops a'hd otherwise rendering 

 it of much less value for feeding stock. In 

 the South, the seasons are sufficiently long 

 and warm to mature it, but in the middle and 

 northern states this is not tlie case, and conse- 

 quently, our farmers have been directing 

 their attention to other varieties than those 

 heretofore cultivated, that will ripen earlier 

 and bear planting at a later period. Of the 

 kinds experimented upon with this view 

 none has succeeded so well as the variety 

 called the " Dutton Corn." This answers 

 the purpose completely, as it may be planted 

 the latter part of May, and even as late as 

 the first of June, and cut off the first week in 

 September fully ripe. It is a hard corn, 

 deeply yellow, grains set very close, general- 

 ly twelve rows, sometimes more, and never 

 eight. It is remarkably heavy and be- 

 lieved to be more sweet and nutritious than 

 the ordinary kinds of corn usually raised in 

 our country. Tlie stalk is small and it shades 

 the ground less than other kinds, and of course 

 admits of being planted much nearer to- 

 gether. A specimen of the ears has been de- 

 posited at the ofiice erf" the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 80 that those who desire to see it may have 

 Cab.— Vol. II— No. 14 



an opportunity of inspecting it, and thereby 

 prevent their being deceived; as much of the 

 small eight rowed yellow northern corn, 

 which also ripens early but not so soon as 

 the Dutton, has been sold some years past for 

 the real invaluable " Dutton corn." This in 

 some instances has produced much disappoint- 

 ment and loss, but perhaps the venders of it, 

 have themselves been deceived and no fraud 

 intended. 



Isaac Roberts, near Springmill, in Montgo- 

 mery county, raised an acre and a half of it 

 last year, which produced about seventy-five 

 bushels without a soft ear. It was cut off 

 the first week in September, and the ground 

 ploughed and sowed with winter grain. 



The rats and mice which are admitted to 

 be good judges of the qualities of grain, have 

 displayed a very decided preference for the 

 Dutton corn, where that and the common 

 kind have been equally accessible to thera. 



A. B. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Tliatcliiiig. 



I have received two interesting communi- 

 cations in answer to my inquiries — one of 

 them is so emphatically addressed to me for 

 my private information, that it is not proper 

 to give the name of the writer — which if not 

 objected to, it is always better to give for ob- 

 vious reasons. Mrl Gardner comes at once 

 to the point on the score of expense, and 

 proves that a thatched roof is cheaper by the 

 cost of tiie shingles, where a grass, such a^ 

 that mentioned as growing on Doctor Tongue's 

 marshes, which nature seems to have made 

 for the purpose, may be had for nothing ; and 

 is burned off in the spring, "any-how." 



York, Penn.. Feb, 5, 1838. 



J. S. Skinner, Esq. 



Sir:— In the Farmers' Cabinet of the 

 loth January, 1838, 1 saw your coramunica- 



^5 



