71 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Sept. 25, 1S20. 



liave greater utivmiccs been made ; since where 

 twenty-five busliels of oorii to the ncre were for- 

 merly i-onsiilereil as the average crop, lilty "'" not 

 now uiicuiimion ;oiie hundreil are sriniuiiines pro- 

 duced, and even in old Massucliiisctts, we, learn 

 from tlio riymoiitli county af^ricidiural reports, 

 one hunilri'il and lliirty-six bushels have been 

 raised. Tlie point wliirh I now wish to propose 

 to the consiilcration of farmers, and upon wliich 1 

 hope to obtain tlirnngh the medium of your excel- 

 lent paper the judgment and experiments of the 

 intelligent ami observing, is this: — what is the ef- 

 fect upon the crop from the praclicc of topping 

 the stalks or stripping the blades of corn ? I 

 shall refrain from giving my own o]iinion in the 

 case, but shall ipiotc some authorities and state- 

 ments, which certainly have weight ; and wliich 

 with many will he deemed decisive. 



In a late tour through a neighboring county to 

 visit some farms proposed for i>reininnis, to which 

 the connnitlee of the county society ilid me the 

 honor to invite me, in examining the farm of a 

 gentleman, who was the last year a successful 

 competitor, the subject came under discussion in a 

 field, where a part of the corn had been topped 

 early in August, and another part had lieen recent- 

 ly topped. This was tlie 8th September. The 

 farmer himself, upon being <]uestioiied bclbre ex- 

 amination as to the expediency of early topping, 

 answered, that in his opinion it was not injurious 

 to the crop. Others of the gentlemen agreed 

 with him, maintaining that the office of the top- 

 stalk being solely the impregnation of the ear, it 

 might be removed without injury when that 

 office was rendered, which migl t be su])posed to 

 be the case as soon as the ear w:as well formed, 

 and the silk beginning to change. I pon a care- 

 ful examination of difttrent parts of the ticid, 

 however, I believe it was generally agreed, and ad- 

 mitted by the farmer himself, though opposed to 

 liis previous opinion, that the cars on the corn re- 

 cently topped were better " fdled out," than on 

 that where the top-stalks were cut early. 



On visiting the farm of another neat and skilful 

 husbandman we pro[)osi-d the same intpiiry. lie 

 replied that he had ma<le a fair experiment, having 

 in the same field, and side by side, topped a jior- 

 tion early, top|>cd another portion late, and left a 

 third portion untouched until harvest; and that 

 the result was very decidedly in favor of that 

 wliich had not been cut, and propurtionahly in fa- 

 vor of that which had been late toj>|icd. 



1 beg in the ne.vt place to refer you to a state- 

 ment of Lorain in his most useful book on Hus- 

 bandry, of which the New York Alemoirs of agri- 

 culture say vol. iii, p. 131, " they do not know a 

 book better calculated to ini|)rovc .\mcrican farm- 

 ing than this." I entirely coincide in their 

 opinion. 



Loniin, chapter xiii, p. 159, — "IMrBordley says 

 lie has stripped the blades, and cut ofl' the tops, 

 when the com was nearly soft enough for roast- 

 ing car.'*, and that no diiliiience was observed be- 

 tween this and the rest." If the gcutleman had 

 mi^Lsined the product he would have seen a mark- 

 cil difrcrencc. It was discovered early in Au- 

 gust, 1810, that proper grasses n>r soiling my cattle 

 would soon he very deficient ; and on the 20lh of 

 that month one roiv of corn in a field of thirteen 

 acres was top[>ed to ascerlaiii how the plant would 

 boar early cutting. It was thought that it hail re- 

 ceived no injury. On the 31st of the same month 

 I couimeuccd feeding the cattle with the tops out 



daily as wanted. These lasted until the 18th 

 rieptember. After this the blades were stripped, 

 commencing %\ here the topping began. They fed 

 the cattle until the otli of October. In the pro- 

 cess of top]iing and blading, one row was left en- 

 tire, standing between the row which liacf been 

 topped on the 20tli of August, and another row 

 that was topped on the 2d September. These 

 three rows were cut oil by the roots on the 2d of 

 October and hauled in and set up separately, under 

 my own insjiection. They were husked and 

 measured on the Stli of November. 



Produce of the row that had not been topped 

 and stri|ipcd, nine bushels and five-eighths of corn 

 in the ear. 



One of the rows which had been topped and 

 stripjied measured seven bushels and six-eighths; 

 and the other topped and stripped row measured 

 seven Imshels and three-eighths of corn in the ear. 

 Thus it clearly appears that mutilating the corn 

 idant before its fruit is perfected, is a very injuri- 

 ous practice. The injury done to my crop by this 

 management was clearly seen some time before 

 the threcexperimental rows were ciitoffi Through- 

 out the whole field the husks were generally tlry 

 and open except on the row, which had not been 

 topped and strijjped. On this they still retained a 

 greenish hue and were close set to the car, when 

 the plants were cut off by the roots. 



As several writers on Agriculture had asserted 

 that the tops of jiotatoes might be cut and given 

 to the cattle without injury to the crop, I cut oft' 

 the tops from a row running through the middle 

 of a very luxuriant i)atch. Care was taken to cut 

 them in that way which was supposed least likely 

 to prove injurious to the future growth of the 

 plants. The debilitated appearance of the second 

 growth of the tops determined me not to risk a 

 second cutting of them. When the crop was ga- 

 thered, the roots in the raw that had been cut did 

 not seem to be more than half as largo as those in 

 the rest of the patch. In fact I have never seen 

 any advantage arise either from carefully trimming 

 or ruggedly mutilating annual plants ; on the con- 

 trary much injury certainly follows." So far this 

 intelligent and practical farmer. 



As tending by analogy to throw some light on 

 this subject, I beg to refer you to some experiments 

 of Mr (.^uincy on the eflect of topping carrots, 

 conducted with the intelligence and exactness 

 which has always distinguished that gentleman, 

 in 3d vol. of the Memoirs of the Mass. \g. Soc.p. 

 180. "It was stated confidently by some English 

 writers on the cultivation of carrots, that the tops 

 might be cut early for the purpose of feeding cat- 

 tle, which were soiled not only without injury to the 

 roots, hut even to the benefit of the roots, which, 

 it was said, would in this way grow larger. Mr 

 Qiiincy took twenty-six beds of carrots in the 

 same field, ami the same size, with a view of fully 

 testing these statements and in the month of Julv 

 when the lower leaves first began to wither, he 

 caused every other bed to be cut as dirt'cted, being 

 careful not to crop the crown or head of the root. 

 So that there was a cut and an uncut hcil alter- 

 nately thioiigli the whole piece. They were 

 gathered and the roots measured careftilly on the 

 20tli October. The total product of the uncut 

 beds was 10 U bushels. The total product of the 

 cut beds was 58 bushels. — Judging by the eye 

 the si/o of the roots of the cut bed was nearlv 

 two thirds los than that of the uncut bed. oii 

 weighing the bushel of carrots taken from the 



uncut l)t:d, 1 found it weighed fifty-three pom 

 Those from the cut bed weighed forlv-ei 

 pounds." 



These, Mr Editor, must I think be deci 

 important experiments, if not decisive of 

 iliitstion at ihsue. From a remark of I.ora 

 iriailc above, it may be sometimes iinpuriant 

 cut the tops with a view to hasten the ripenin 

 the crops, as this will doubtless be its elfec 

 Again it may be said that the increased valu 

 the tops for fodder when cut in a green rai 

 > than in a dry stale is an eipiivaleiit for the lo> 

 the product of grain. 1 will not presume to 

 cidc this; though my own experience, and 1 v; 

 I my com fodder when well cured almost as in 

 'as my English Hay, is in favor of cutting up 

 whole field by the roots, when I cannot find 

 ear which is not too hard to roast — and allov 

 it to ripen in the shock; in which case the "b 

 or lower end being cured in n green state 

 while the sap is retained in it, becomes almo; 

 valuable as the top stalks. This mode is prai 

 cd in many places, and is detailed in a conim 

 cation from Philemon Ilalsted, in New ^ 

 .Memoirs, vol. iii. j). 101 — and re|)ublislied in 

 N. E. Farmer, vol. v. p. 75. 



I forbear any farther remark.*, in hopes 

 this communication may elicit other facts 

 remarks on this subject from some of your im 

 gent correspondents ; or in |)arliamentary s 

 I submit the decision to the Chair, so ably 1 

 as it is by the Editor of the New I'.ng 

 rarmcr. S. T 



loth September, 1829. 



THE SINCLAIR BEET. 



Mr Rlsseli The seed of Sir John'Siiicl 



new variety of Beet, which I procured of 

 was planted in June — they have very fiir cxr 

 ed my expectations, and are the most luxu 

 vegetable I ever saw ; the leaves of some ol 

 plants occu|)y five feet of ground, and the lar 

 on measuring, I found to be 2 feet 6 to 2 {ii 

 inches in length, and 12 to 15 inches stalk< 

 2J to 3 inches wide — they bear frequent < 

 ping, taking the outer leaves, and preserving 

 centre or crown. The great value of this 

 etable is in the top, and not the root. — The; 

 of early maturity, and easy culture — a|i|ier 

 stand the drought remarkably well, and com 

 in the same thrifty condition through the sei 

 The leaf is as tender as lettuce; this wlih 

 stalk, I have had boiled and served uji like 

 nacli ; which it far excels, in my opinion, 

 an estimable product of its kind, and richi) 

 serves cultivating. — I hope it may be in 

 power to jirocure, and fijrward uie some mo. 

 the seed another season. 



Yours, very respect full v. 



L. JENKIX 



Ca;iiiMrf(ng-i(n, .V. Y. Sept. 15, 1829. 



DISSEMINATION OF FINE STOt K. 

 Mr Ki'ssELL — IVrmit me by this opportu 

 to mention to you, the liberality of the Ibwi. J 

 Wki I.KS of your city, \\ ho docs not coniini 

 cllbrts to tlio advancement of wgricultuml wi 

 to his own State. A few weeks since, 1 liai 

 pleasure to receive from him, a present of a 

 fine young Durham Improved Short Horn, 

 out of .Vdiniial, presented to your MiissacbV ^ 

 agricultural society, by Sir Isaac Cofii.n. 

 aninuil is of great |iromise, a fine .^iiecinM '''^ 

 the Durhiuus ; much admired ; and crcditi 



