212 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



the general effect of condiments on animals, especi- 

 ally on man, and remarks: "So far a9 simple con- 

 diments are concerned, in their effects on man, 

 physicians are as one in urging their very sparing 

 employment. They are useless to those who, being 

 healthy, are also moderate in their tastes, and are 

 neither intemperate feeders nor drinkers. When a 

 man eats for eating sake, he forces his digestive or- 

 gans into unnatural work by cayenne and mustard, 

 which he can not afterward dispense with without 

 suffering from dyspepsia. Salt is the materia' most 

 universally and necessarily employed to render 

 foods palatable, and to aid their nutritious proper- 

 ties. But in excess salt is also very injurious." 



The Review says that the Danish Government 

 was the first to take up the subject of cattle condi- 

 ments in a systematic manner, and that judiciously 

 conducted experiments thus instituted, led to con- 

 clusions similar to those published by Mr. Lawes. 



CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. 



The Boston Cultivator publishes the following 

 colloquy between farmers A. and B : 



A. On what kind of land do you raise corn this 

 year, neighbor B ? 



B. I have planted a part of " the plain," which, 

 you know, is rather light, dry soil. 



A. How do you cultivate it — I mean what is the 

 course after planting ? 



B. It is planted in hills about four feet each 

 way; I plough it and hoe it three times — weeding, 

 half-hilling and hilling. I use the common "horse 

 plough," and make two furrows to the row at 

 each hoeing, working over with a hoe the spaces 

 not plowed. Sometimes I go both ways, but I 

 always intend to plough the second time the con- 

 trary way from the first. I am not very particular 

 as to the first and second hoeings or ploughing?, but 

 at the third I want the plough put down deep — no 

 matter how high the corn is — I don't care if it is 

 all tasselled out and is higher than the horse's 

 back. 



A. I confess I don't see the advantages of your 

 mode of cultivation over mine. Most of my corn 

 land is similar in character to yours, and I plant 

 my corn in a similar way. I don't use the plough 

 among my corn at all ; I use a cultivator, and with 

 that I can work over the surface of the ground, 

 close up to the young corn itself, going twice in a 

 row. This kills the weeds, if it is done at the right 

 time, and sufficiently stirs the ground. It leaves 

 but a narrow strip to be hoed. I have no set 

 number of times to hoe or cultivate my corn — I do 

 it as often as it is required. Something depends 

 on the season : I make it a rule to keep the weeds 

 down, whether it requires two workings or four to 

 do it. If the ground is clean and the surface 

 tolerably light, I do not think it will pay to work 

 it after the corn is a foot high. Then, as to your 

 practice of running a plough deeply between the 

 rows after the corn has fully tasselled out; it cute 

 off, turns up, and destroys myriads of roots. By 

 the time the stalks have attained the height you 

 speak of, the roots have formed a complete net- 

 work through the soil from row to row. If you 

 examine closely after you have ploughed a furrow, 

 you will see the fine white fibres almost as numer- 

 ous and close together as the threads in a piece of 



sheeting. If rain happens soon after you have 

 ploughed, you can see the roots very plainly. — 

 Now, why should these roots, which the vital 

 energies of the plant have produced, be destroyed ? 

 Is it reasonable to suppose that their destruction 

 c*n aid the plant in the great object for which it 

 was designed by nature, and which is also the great 

 object of man, viz., the production of seed? 



B. Well, I don't know about that; but I have 

 raised corn in the way I mention, and am satisfied 

 with it. 



A. But did you ever try an experiment fairly, 

 between ploughing deeply between the rows after 

 the corn gets as high as the horse's back, and 

 working over two or three inches of the surface 

 just as the tassel begins to shoot from the sheath, 

 and then laging the field by, as they say at the 

 West? 



B. No, I never did, because I am satisfied with 

 the way I have adopted. But did you ever try my 

 way? 



A. Yes, or something very similar to it. I had 

 a field of corn which I intended to finish cultiva- 

 ting, and lay by before haying, but was under the 

 necessity of leaving a part of it for a week or ten 

 days after the main portion had been worked over. 

 During this time the ground had become more 

 compact, and the weeds had grown some. The 

 man who was sent to finish up the work thought, 

 he could not make the cultivator, which had been 

 used on the other portion of the field, answer for 

 this, and he therefore took a horse-plough, such as 

 you say you use. With this he went through the 

 corn twice to a row, putting the plough pretty well 

 down. It was hoed as the other portion had been, 

 and left till harvest. The corn on the part worked 

 last, was soon noticed not to be doing so well as 

 that on the other part, and when it was gathered, 

 the difference, to a row, was so marked and striking 

 as to attract the attention of the harvesters the 

 moment they passed from one portion to the other. 

 There certaiidy was not half the corn per acre on 

 the part that was worked over last that there was 

 on the other part. It is right to say that pretty 

 dry weather followed the last working, and the 

 operation produced the effect on the corn which in 

 some sections is called fired. I wish to state 

 another objection to the use of the common plough 

 among corn on dry land ; it exposes the land to 

 drought. It is impossible to use this implement 

 without throwing the ground more or less into 

 ridges and hollows, thereby exposing more surface 

 to the sun and air, and making more channels for 

 the rain water to escape. 



Remarks on the foregoing. — Methods of cultiva- 

 ting corn should be varied according to the char- 

 acter of the soil. Loose, open soils can be readily 

 worked with the common cultivator. Even those 

 with cast-iron teeth or feet will answer on this 

 kind of land. But on soils which tend to become 

 too solid, this implement will not produce the 

 requisite friability. Something must be used fre- 

 quently almost from the time the corn is put in 

 the ground, that will keep the soil tolerably open 

 to the depth it was plowed for the crop. The 

 common horse plough is not adapted to this 

 purpose, because it lias not much pulverizinS effect, 

 and in passing through the soil actually compresses 

 that at the bottom of the furrow. Neither is this 



